UNIVERSITY  Q     CAL  FORN  A   SAN  D  EG 


JNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGC 


3  1822  002768372 


f3 


presented  to  the 
UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
SAN  DIEGO 

by 
Mr.   &  Mrs.    David  Miller 


Jews  in  Many  Lands 


Jews  in  Many  Lands 


BY 


ELKAN  NATHAN  ADLER 


PHILADELPHIA 

TUB  JEWISH  PUBMCATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 
1905 


CopYRiGn'r,  1905, 

BY 

THE  JEWISH  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 


TO  MY  KIND  AND  HOSPITABLE 

CO-RELIGIONISTS 

IN    MANY    LANDS 


Contents 

PAGE 

PREFACE  n 

EGYPT  IN  1888 1-5 

Cairo — Cai  r  ene  Je  ws — Synagogues  —  Maimonides  — 
Karaites  —  Rabbanite  Jews  —  Old  Cairo  —  Inscrip- 
tions —  A  Jewish  Wedding  —  Tabernacles  —  The  Ex- 
odus. 

FROM  JAFFA  TO  JERUSALEM      ....          35 

The  Crowded  East  —  Landing  at  Jaffa  —  The  Drive 
to  Jerusalem  —  The  Suburbs  of  Jerusalem. 

JERUSALEM 43 

Architecture  —  Beggars  —  The  Jews  of  Jerusalem  — 
Russian  Jews  in  Palestine  —  A  Chassidish  Dance  — 
The  Rejoicing  of  the  Law  —  The  Britzker  Rav  at 
Jerusalem  —  The  Rothschild  School  in  1888  —  Lan- 
guages— The  Workshops  —  The  Pupils — The  Orphan 
School  and  Others  —  Climate  and  Sanitation  —  Un- 
derground Jerusalem  —  Hospitals  —  Doctor  d'Arbela — 
The  Missionaries  —  Clocks  —  A  Meeting  —  Tombs  — 
King  David's  Sepulchre  —  Catacombs  —  Dervishes  — 
Synagogues  —  The  Chalukah  System  —  Jewish  Arti- 
sans. 

THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM          ...          89 

The  Tomb  of  Rachel  —  Pilgrims  —  Reouf  Pasha  — 
Prayers  at  Rachel's  Tomb  —  Bethlehem  —  The  Cave  of 
Adullam  —  Artas. 

HEBRON,  THE  DEAD  SEA,  AND  THE  JORDAN      .         104 

The  City  of  Friendship  —  Machpelah  —  The  Jews  of 
Hebron  —  A  Night  Ride  —  A  Caravansary — Jericho — 
The  Dead  Sea  —  The  Jordan. 

AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  IN  PALESTINE  .        .         120 

Rishon  le-Zion  —  Other  Colonies  —  The  Agricultural 
School  —  The  Montefiore  Garden. 

PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895          .        .        .         130 
The  Old  — The  New. 


8  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SALONICA 140 

Synagogues  —  A  Kippur  Siesta  —  The  Talmud  To- 
rah  —  Inscriptions  and  Manuscripts  —  The  Donme 
— Volo. 

SMYRNA 149 

The  Home  of  Sabbatai  Zevi  —  Young  Israel  —  A 
Dramatic  Performance  —  Magnesia  —  A  Wonderful 
Manuscript  —  Bounar  Bashi  —  Rhodes  —  Mersina. 

ALEPPO 159 

Situation  —  The  Ghetto  —  The  Aleppo  Codex  —  The 
Genizah  —  Aleppo  in  the  Middle  Ages  —  Schools  —  A 
Lucky  Find. 

THE  SCHOOLS  AT  TETUAN        ....         169 
PERSIAN  JEWS 173 

Petrovsk  —  A  Synagogue  —  Jewesses  — •  Travelling 
in  the  Caucasus  —  Across  the  Caspian  to  Persia  — 
Achalcig  Jews  —  A  Persian  Gehazi  —  From  Reshd 
to  Teheran  —  The  Maale  Yehudiya  —  The  Great  Syn- 
agogue —  Medical  Practice  —  Siakal  —  The  Sadr  e 
Aazam  —  Jewish  Disabilities  —  Notables. 

ZAKASPIE 196 

A  Bird's-Eye  View  of  the  Transcaspian  —  Pass- 
ports —  Routes  —  Krasnovodsk  —  General  Kuropat- 
kin  —  Diseases  —  The  Railway  —  Fighting  the  Sand  — 
Water  —  Passengers  —  The  Persian  Frontier  —  Geok 
Tepe  —  Aschabad  —  The  Ruins  of  Annau  —  Merv  — 
The  Yadidin  —  River  Oxus  —  New  Bokhara  —  Bok- 
hara —  Jews  —  Synagogue  —  Ethnology  —  Manu- 
scripts and  Literature  —  City  Sights  —  Samarkand  — 
Tamerlane  —  Russianization  —  Cotton. 

A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE 230 

Township,  Village,  and  Farm  —  The  Pampa  —  Pros- 
pects—  Russians  and  Roumanians  Compared  —  Jews 
in  Argentine. 

A  VISIT  TO  THE  KOWNO  RAV    ....        238 

Kowno  — An  Illegal  Assembly  —  Table  Talk  — 
Specter's  Responsa  —  His  Broad-mindedness. 

INDEX 245 


Illustrations 

PAGE 

YEMEN  JEWS  AT  JERUSALEM Frontispiece 

HIGH  STREET  IN  OLD  SAMARKAND 18 

JAFFA    37 

NEW  HOSPITAL  AT  JERUSALEM 40 

TYPES  OF  JEWISH  SCHOOL  CHILDREN 65 

OLD  PEOPLE'S  REST  AT  JERUSALEM 90 

THE  GREAT  MOSQUE  AT  MACHPELAH 107 

JEWISH  INTERIOR  AT  DAMASCUS 128 

CATALAN  SYNAGOGUE  AT  SALONICA 141 

THE  TALMUD  TORAH  AT  SALONICA 144 

A  JUD/EO- PERSIAN  MANUSCRIPT 150 

SYNAGOGUE  AT  ALEPPO 161 

SPANISH  COSTUMES  OF  JEWESSES  IN  ALGIERS 171 

SYNAGOGUE  OF  EZRA  COHEN  ZEDEK  AT  TEHERAN 174 

JEWISH  SCHOOL  AT  TEHERAN 185 

THE  GREAT  SYNAGOGUE  AT  TEHERAN 187 

SYNAGOGUE  OF  ASHER  ROFE  AT  TEHERAN 189 

BOKHARIOTS    200 

SYNAGOGUE  AT  BOKHARA.  .  .  220 


Preface 

THE  author's  first  visit  to  the  East  was  a  professional 
one,  undertaken  by  instruction  of  the  Council  of  the 
Holy  Land  Relief  Fund.  Its  object  was  to  clear  up 
certain  legal  difficulties  which  had  arisen  on  their 
estates  at  Jerusalem  and  Jaffa  in  consequence  of  the 
death  of  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  in  1888.  At  that  time 
their  only  buildings  in  Jerusalem  were  the  Judah  Touro 
Almshouse  and  a  wind-mill.  The  vacant  land  adjoin- 
ing had  been  "  jumped  "  by  about  three  hundred  poor 
and  desperate  Jews  who  claimed  that  it  had  been  origi- 
nally intended  for  the  poor,  and  they  were  poor.  The 
journey  was  successful ;  the  squatters  were  removed, 
and  their  place  taken  by  industrious  settlers  who, 
through  the  agency  of  two  building  societies  financed 
by  the  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial  Committee, 
have  erected  some  hundred  and  thirty  decent  little 
dwellings  in  place  of  the  rude  uninhabitable  shanties 
standing  there  in  1888.  The  experience  was  exciting 
and  stimulating,  and  encouraged  the  author  not  only  to 
return  to  Palestine,  but  to  make  quite  a  number  of 
other  voyages  to  Jewish  centres  in  the  Old  World  as 
well  as  the  New. 

A  more  or  less  altruistic  interest  in  his  co-religion- 
ists was  stimulated  by  a  selfish  taste  for  collecting  rec- 
ords of  the  Jewish  past,  which  grew  with  opportunity. 
There  is  no  sport  equal  to  the  hunt  for  a  buried  manu- 


12  PREFACE 

script.  Even  an  element  of  danger  is  not  always  lack- 
ing, and  one  hardly  realizes  how  fascinating  are  the 
possibilities  of  a  trouvaille.  Given  a  certain  amount 
of  luck,  one  rises  to  an  invincible  optimism,  which  ex- 
pects to  make  happy  finds  in  the  most  unlikely  places. 
And  one  isn't  always,  or  even  often,  disappointed. 

A  lawyer's  profession  gives  one  plenty  of  opportuni- 
ties. Business  in  Spain  suggests  Morocco,  Russia  is 
a  stepping-stone  to  Central  Asia,  Egypt  is  but  a  night's 
journey  from  Palestine.  And  then  a  lawyer  has 
healthily  long  vacations  at  least  twice  a  year.  It  is 
quite  wonderful  to  think  how  much  one  can  do  and 
how  far  one  can  go  in  two  or  three  weeks.  The 
modern  traveller  need  only  observe  a  few  simple  rules. 
If  his  time  is  limited,  he  should  go  straight  to  his 
destination  and  not  fall  out  by  the  way.  He  should 
not  observe  times  and  seasons,  nor  be  deterred  by 
grandmotherly  fears  of  hot  or  cold.  There  is  much 
virtue  in  an  Egyptian  summer,  much  in  a  Russian 
one ;  neither  is  supposed  to  be  the  season,  but  natives 
live  everywhere  all  the  year  round,  and  the  traveller 
must  be  cosmopolitan.  "  Can't  "  lies  in  the  church- 
yard, and  "  don't  "  is  a  word  more  honored  in  the 
breach  than  the  observance.  As  for  diet,  too  much  is 
more  dangerous  than  too  little.  The  author  has 
found  continuous  health  depend  upon  plenty  of  green 
stuff  and  ripe  fruit.  Meat  is  quite  unimportant ;  he 
has  lived  four  months  with  only  a  single  meat  meal. 
But  he  objects  to  water  except  for  external  application. 

In  the  last  fifteen  years  he  has  managed  to  collect 
manuscripts  at  the  rate  of  about  a  hundred  a  year  and 
to  visit  each  of  the  continents,  except  Australia,  half  a 


PREFACE  13 

dozen  times  or  so.1  And  this  without  any  undue  sacri- 
fice of  either  time  or  money.  The  following  sketches 
are  notes  of  his  journeys  to  Jewry,  for  the  most  part 
written  at  the  time  and  on  the  spot.  Almost  all  have 
appeared  in  the  Jewish  or  general  press.  His  acknowl- 
edgments are  due  to  the  editors — especially  of  The 
Jewish  Chronicle  and  the  Contemporary  Review — for 
allowing  them  to  reappear  in  a  collected  form.  He 
hopes  they  will  not  prove  altogether  stale  and  uninter- 
esting. Future  travellers  will  perhaps  not  be  too  proud 
to  take  a  hint  from  an  old  stager.  Everybody  ought  to 
travel.  As  facilities  increase,  probably  everybody  will. 
And  there  is  nothing  more  pleasant  than  finding  friends 
in  every  port,  unless  it  is  making  them.  Even  the  inter- 
vals between  ports  are  both  pleasant  and  healthful. 
Nowadays  communications,  though  rapid,  are  so  con- 
venient that  a  sea  voyage  is  prescribed  by  the  faculty 
as  a  rest  cure.  But  even  in  the  stormier  past  no  Jew 
feared  the  sea.  His  commercial  insight  appreciated 
the  value  of  the  ocean  highway,  and  he  had  always 
the  gift  of  language — a  language  extra. 

Hebrew  was — and  is — a  lingua  franca,  which  un- 
locks the  secrets  of  the  fascinating  coast  and  hinter- 
land of  the  three  great  inland  seas  of  the  old  world. 
As  for  America,  it  is  now  proven  that  all  the  great 
discoverers,  from  Columbus  downward,  had  Jews  with 

1  The  following  are  his  chief  voyages :  Egypt  and  Palestine 
in  1888,  1895,  1898,  and  1901 ;  Morocco  in  1892,  1894,  and  1900; 
Algiers  and  Tunis  in  1894-5 ',  Persia  in  1896 ;  Central  Asia  in 
1897;  Aleppo  in  1898;  Spain  in  1892,  1894,  1900,  and  1903; 
Russia  in  1889,  1892,  1896,  and  1897;  North  America  in  1901, 
1902,  and  twice  in  1903;  and  South  America  and  the  West 
Indies  in  1902-3. 


I4  PREFACE 

them  on  their  travels  to  interpret,  to  cheer,  and  to 
advise.  Nor  did  the  Jews  lose  any  time  in  appreciat- 
ing the  value  of  the  new  continent,  and  at  last  the 
historians  of  America  do  them  the  justice  of  admitting 
that  they  were  of  the  first  colonists  and  the  best.  It 
was  a  peculiar  gratification  to  the  author  on  his  way 
back  from  "  Hispaniola  "  to  find  in  Spain  a  copy  of 
the  very  Nautical  Tables  used  by  Columbus,  which 
had  been  compiled  in  Portugal  by  one  Jew,  printed 
there  by  another,  and  presented  to  him  by  a  third. 

January  21,  1905.  E.  N.  A. 


Jews  in  Many  Lands 


EGYPT  IN  1888 

Cairo  —  Cairene  Jews  —  Synagogues  —  Maimonides  —  Karaites 
—  Rabbanite  Jews  —  Old  Cairo  —  Inscriptions  —  A  Jewish 
Wedding  —  Tabernacles  —  The  Exodus. 

CAIRO 

To  us  Jews — although,  as  Heine  would  say,  there  are 
neither  madonnas  there  nor  prima  donnas — Egypt  must 
always  be  of  supreme  interest.  In  Egypt  we  find 
numerous  traces  of  our  ancestors  before  the  Exodus, 
and  their  very  portraits  are  distinguishable  on  the 
mummy  wrappings  at  Boulak.  In  the  shrunken,  shri- 
velled features  of  Rameses  II,  we  can  trace  the  stern 
obstinacy  of  the  Pharaoh  who  knew  not  Joseph,  just  as 
we  can  picture  to  ourselves  the  tenderness  of  Bent  Anat, 
the  princess  who  rescued  the  infant  Moses  from  a  wa- 
tery grave.  King  and  princess  both  lie  in  the  unpre- 
tentious museum  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,1  amidst  a 
score  of  other  royal  mummies  of  historical  note — per- 
haps on  the  very  spot  where,  four  thousand  years  ago, 
they  were  wont  to  come  to  bathe.  Pithom  and  Raam- 
ses  have  been  identified,  and  the  journeyings  of  the 
Children  of  Israel  mapped  out  with  an  accuracy  which 
after  all  allowance  is  made  for  the  alternative  routes 

'The  museum  has  now  been  shifted  to  palatial  quarters. 


16 


suggested  by  different  Egyptologists,  is  unequalled  by 
any  description  of  the  march  of  Xenophon's  famous 
Ten  Thousand  not  half  so  long  ago,  or  that  of  the  Ger- 
man invasion  of  France,  which  occurred  but  yesterday. 
Solomon,  Jeremiah,  Philo,  Saadiah,  and  Maimonides 
were  all  intimately  associated  with  Egypt.  The  magnifi- 
cence of  the  Alexandrian"  Jews  is  a  by-word  in  the 
Talmud,  and  the  hair-splitting  acumen  of  the  Neo-Pla- 
tonists  the  admiration  of  modern  philosophy.  Nay, 
the  cross  itself,  which  plays  so  important  a  part  in  the 
religion  of  our  neighbors,  and  which  has  been  for  us 
the  symbol  of  so  much  oppression,  can  in  Cairo  be 
traced  to  its  very  un-Christian  origin  in  the  world-old 
Nilometer,  which  has  always,  in  a  literal  sense,  been  the 
measure  of  Egypt's  salvation. 

CAIRENE  JEWS 

Probably  no  city  in  the  world — perhaps  not  even 
Damascus  itself,  and  certainly  not  Jerusalem — can,  like 
Cairo,  boast  so  uninterrupted  a  continuity  of  Jewish 
residence,  ever  since  the  memory  of  man.  No  city, 
therefore,  can  afford  so  large  a  field  of  interest  to  one 
who  concerns  himself  with  Jewish  antiquities.  And 
yet,  strange  to  say,  though  hundreds  of  our  co-re- 
ligionists visit  Cairo,  either  on  their  passage  to  or 
from  India  and  the  Colonies,  or  on  a  winter  trip  to 
Egypt  for  Egypt's  sake,  we  were  assured  by  the  lead- 
ers of  the  community  that  scarcely  any  concern  them- 
selves in  the  slightest  degree  about  the  position  of  the 
Cairene  Jews,  past,  present,  or  future.  It  was  par- 
ticularly fortunate  that  circumstances  compelled  me 
to  spend  Kippur  and  the  earlier  days  of  Succoth  in 
Cairo,  for  the  opportunity  was  an  excellent  one  to  see 


EGYPT  IN  1888  17 

our  Egyptian  co-religionists  as  they  are.  These  holy 
days,  so  peculiarly  calculated  to  excite  and  bring  to 
the  surface  the  most  characteristically  Jewish  feelings, 
fall  at  a  time  of  the  year  when  the  heat  is  so  excessive 
that  strangers  dare  not  face  it,  and  even  resident 
foreigners  flee  from  it,  and  it  is  not  often  that  a  Euro- 
pean has  the  opportunity  of  joining  the  aborigines  in 
celebrating  their  feasts.  I  arrived  in  Alexandria  on 
the  eve  of  Kippur,  so  that  I  could  make  only  the 
briefest  stay  there,  and  had  hardly  time  to  see  anything 
besides  the  great  synagogue,  the  largest  in  Africa, 
which  was  being  made  clean  and  trim  for  the  service 
of  the  evening.  The  ten  o'clock  express  to  Cairo  by 
which  I  left,  contained  several  Jews  and  Jewesses, 
who  were  hurrying  back  to  the  capital  to"  spend 
the  fast  with  their  families ;  some  had  been  staying  in 
Alexandria  for  business,  others  for  the  sake  of  the  sea- 
air.  Among  them  I  was  delighted  to  discover  a  gen- 
tleman to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction,  and 
whose  people  were  extremely  kind  to  me  throughout 
my  stay.  I  was  their  guest  the  whole  time,  and  their 
hospitality  was  my  first  and  most  agreeable  experience 
of  Oriental — and  Jewish — characteristics.  At  two  we 
dined  that  Friday,  and  at  five  we  dined  again,  so  that 
we  were  physically  armed  for  the  morrow.  After 
nearly  a  week's  abstention  from  animal  food  I  found 
the  cuisine,  though  strange,  most  tasty  and  palatable. 
Of  course,  we  had  rice  and  poultry, — they  are  fasting 
foods  all  the  world  over, — but  also  "  we  remember 
the  fish  which  we  did  eat  in  Egypt  freely,  the  cucum- 
bers and  the  melons  and  the  leeks  "  and  olives  and 
dates,  such  as  can  nowhere  be  seen  in  the  same  profu- 
sion as  on  the  tables  of  Cairo.  Shortly  before  six,  T 


i8  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

accompanied  my  friends  to  the  synagogue  of  Nissim 
Misseri  Bey,  one  of  the  four  brothers  who  constitute 
the  well-known  banking  firm  of  Misseri  Freres. 

SYNAGOGUES 

This  private  synagogue,  within  five  minutes'  walk 
of  Shepheard's  Hotel  and  in  the  Ismailiya  quarter, 
was  much  nearer  and  therefore  more  convenient  for 
me  than  the  public  Shools  in  the  Muski,  for  the 
sun  made  walking  almost  an  impossibility.  It  forms 
a  sort  of  outhouse  in  the  garden  of  the  noble  mansion 
in  which  the  families  of  the  four  brothers  live  as  a 
pattern  united  household.  It  is  slightly  smaller  than 
the  North  London  Synagogue,  and  much  the  same 
in  style  except  that  book-cases  filled  with  Hebrew 
volumes  occupy  one  side,  and  there  is  no  gallery.  The 
ladies  sat  outside  under  a  large  awning,  amongst 
the  palm  trees,  quite  close  to  the  open  windows,  so  that 
they  could  have  attended  to  the  prayers  if  they  had 
wished,  which  they  did  not.  Evidently  the  charms 
of  conversation  are  as  alluring  in  the  East  as  they 
are  in  the  West,  and  the  tongues  of  Eve's  daughters  do 
not  vary  with  their  complexions.  As  to  externals, 
I  was  most  struck  by  the  kindly  thought  which  had 
provided  each  congregant  with  a  fan  of  feathers,  white 
or  red.  At  first  my  old-world  notions  revolted  against 
the  use  of  this  feminine  weapon,  but  the  flesh  was 
weak,  nay,  melting,  so  that  I,  too,  succumbed.  My 
black  coat,  decorous  garb,  was  another  sacrifice 
to  the  proprieties  which  I  regretted,  although,  after 
all,  I  may  not  have  suffered  more  from  the  heat  than 
did  my  fellow-worshippers,  for  all  that  they  were 
so  lightly  clad.  Some  wore  Arab  dress,  but  most — 


EGYPT  IN  1888  19 

for  it  was  a  fashionable  though  strictly  orthodox 
congregation — were  in  mufti,  but  the  fez  was  univer- 
sal. Misseri  himself  was  sometimes  in  European  and 
sometimes  in  Oriental  costume,  like  his  house  half 
Parisian  and  half  African,  perhaps  because  of  his 
dual  character  as  a  Bey  of  Egypt  and  an  Italian 
Chevalier.  The  Chazan — the  best  in  Egypt,  I  was 
told — seemed  to  delight  his  audience,  but  the  taste  for 
his  music  requires  to  be  cultivated.  His  nasal  twang 
and  sing-song  chant,  all  in  the  minor  key,  were  for  all 
the  world  identical  with  those  of  the  Moullahs  in  the 
mosques,  whose  calls,  mingled  with  the  barking  of 
jackals,  and  screaming  of  hawks,  and  braying  of 
donkeys,  form  the  night  cries  of  Cairo.  We  Jews  al- 
ways borrow  from  our  environment,  and  anyone  trans- 
ported into  a  synagogue  could,  from  the  style  of  the 
decorations  and  character  of  the  music,  at  once  tell 
whether  he  was  in  a  Catholic,  a  Protestant,  or  a  Mo- 
hammedan country.  The  liturgy  is  that  of  the  Italian 
Sephardim  with  some  modifications,  which  constitute 
the  "  Minhag  Mizraim,"  such  as  the  Duchan  every 
Sabbath,  introduced  by  Maimonides.  As  our  co-re- 
ligionists there  are  not  very  learned  in  rabbinical 
lore,  they  are  the  more  addicted  to  certain  supersti- 
tions, and  show  a  decided  leaning  toward  the  mysteries 
of  the  Kabbala.  In  the  Kol  Nidre  service  this  was 
especially  noticeable. 

Misseri's  is  not  the  only  private  synagogue  in  Cairo. 
In  Egypt  and,  indeed,  throughout  the  Orient,  it  is 
the  fashion  for  the  leading  Jews  of  the  country  to  have 
synagogues  of  their  own,  which  their  friends  and 
households  attend,  and  which  are  sometimes  as  large 
as  a  public  synagogue  in  Europe,  while  their  embroid- 


20  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

cries  and  plate  are  as  rich.  The  custom  is  a  good  old- 
fashioned  one,  and  used  to  be  as  prevalent  in  the  West 
as  it  is  in  the  East.  People  who  have  read  Professor 
Kaufmann's  charming  biography  of  his  wife's  kinsman, 
R.  Samson  Wertheimer,  who  was  Hofjnde  in  Vienna 
some  two  hundred  years  ago,  will  recollect  the  descrip- 
tion of  his  Shool,  which  was  much  such  a  one  as 
that  of  Misseri.  That  of  the  Cattauis  is-  larger  and 
finer,  and  boasts  of  a  gallery  for  ladies.  It  adjoins 
the  magnificent  residence  of  M.  Moise  Cattaui,  which 
was  once  the  palace  of  one  of  Khedive  Ismail's  favorite 
Pashas,  and  was  lent  by  its  present  owner  to  Lord 
Dufferin,  who  lived  there  during  the  three  months  or 
so  that  he  spent  in  Egypt  as  England's  Special  Com- 
missioner. For  this  attention  Queen  Victoria  sent  M. 
Cattaui  her  portrait,  which  he  treasures  with  no  little 
pride.  The  garden  is  almost  a  park,  and  it  was 
a  strange  sight  to  English  eyes  to  see  some  of  our 
less  devout,  or  more  weary,  co-religionists  lying 
on  the  grass  amid  the  cotton  and  plantain  or  date 
palms.  On  the  west  wall  of  the  synagogue  itself  is 
a  Hebrew  tablet  to  the  memory  of  a  young  son  of  M. 
Cattaui,  who  was  murdered  by  Arabi's  following  on 
the  awful  night  of  the  bombardment  of  Alexandria. 
Robbery  was  the  motive,  and  his  assailants  chopped  off 
a  finger  to  get  at  his  diamond  ring.  His  untimely 
death  cast  a  gloom  not  only  over  his  immediate  family, 
but  over  the  whole  Cairene  community,  for  the 
Cattauis  are  great  benefactors  of  their  brethren  and 
surpassed  by  none  in  public  spirit  and  intelligent 
liberality. 


EGYPT  IN  1888  21 

MAIMONIDES 

Maimonides  is,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  patron 
saint  of  Cairo.  Indeed,  throughout  the  commu- 
nity he  is  known  as  KTJpn  nB>o  1331,  "  Our  Rabbi 
Moses  the  Holy."  In  the  Oriental  quarter  the  chief 
synagogue  is  called  after  his  name,  and  among  its 
treasures  is  the  nro,  or  Bible,  alleged  to  have  been 
written  by  his  own  hand.  In  the  courtyard  of  the 
synagogue  is  the  spot  where  tradition  says  he  lay  bur- 
ied until  his  body  was  removed  to  the  Holy  Land. 
This  cellar-like  vault  is  believed  to  be  endowed  with 
mystic  virtues,  so  that  it  can  heal  the  sick.  And  the 
efficacy  of  faith  is  so  great  that,  to  this  day,  pa- 
tients who  are  brought  there  often  recover.  The 
Rambam's  residence  in  Fostat,  or  Old  Cairo,  is,  of 
course,  historical ;  he  was  for  years  physician  to  the 
Kaliph,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  the  most  valuable  and 
authentic  manuscripts  of  his  works,  including  the  fa- 
mous "  Yad  ha-Chazakah  "  of  the  Bodleian  with  his 
signature,  of  which  Dr.  Neubauer  gives  a  facsimile 
in  his  magnificent  catalogue,  were  originally  purchased 
in  Cairo.*  Another  folio  manuscript  of  the  same  work, 
five  or  six  hundred  years  old,  beautifully  illuminated, 
was  once  the  property  of  Abarbanel,  who,  believing 
it  to  be  in  the  Rambam's  own  handwriting,  paid 
three  thousand  ducats  for  it.  This  was  recently  shown 
me  in  Frankfort  by  Dr.  Horovitz,  who  is  collating  it, 

1  Four  or  five  autograph  letters  of  his  have  been  found  in 
the  Fostat  Genizah.  One  is  a  genuine  twelfth  century  JY'11?, 
i.  e.,  "question  and  answer."  The  "case"  is  written  first  and, 
just  as  is  counsel's  practice  still,  the  "opinion"  follows  on  and 
is  continued  on  the  back. 


22  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

and  he  pointed  out  to  me  some  important  lectioncs 
I'ariae.  It  belongs  to  a  dealer  in  antiquities  in  Frank- 
fort, who  wants  a  thousand  pounds  for  it.  This,  too,  I 
believe,  the  great  Spanish  minister  procured  from 
Egypt,  or  at  any  rate  from  North  Africa.  Many  le- 
gendary tales  cluster  round  the  Rambam's  name,  and 
form  part  of  Cairene  folk-lore.  Thus  the  old  story 
told  by  Dr.  Caster  in  his  charming  Bcitrdge  zur 
ver •gleichcndcn  Sagen  und  Mdrchenkunde  has  its 
original  habitat  in  Cairo.  We  are  told  that  Mai- 
monides  and  his  pupil,  or,  some  say,  teacher,  had  for 
years  been  seeking  for  the  elixir  vitac.  At  last  they 
succeed,  and  cast  lots  who  is  to  be  first  experimented 
upon.  The  lot  falls  upon  the  colleague  of  Maimonides, 
who  forthwith  cuts  him  up,  sprinkles  the  pieces  with  the 
wonderful  elixir,  and  puts  them  in  an  air-tight  bottle, 
or  receiver,  which  is  not  to  be  opened  for  nine  months. 
After  that  time  the  daring  student  was  to  emerge 
resuscitated  and  immortal.  But  the  experimentee  was 
the  King's  physician,  and  when  weeks  pass  and  he  does 
not  turn  up,  the  King  gets  uneasy  and  finds  out  that  he 
was  last  seen  in  company  of  Maimonides.  Summoned 
to  the  royal  presence,  the  Jewish  philosopher  is  forced 
to  confess  what  he  has  done,  and  the  King,  in  a  fit  of 
indignant  piety,  breaks  the  bottle  so  as  to  prevent  an 
immortal  man  from  posing  as  a  god.  In  another  ac- 
count it  is  not  the  King  but  Maimonides  himself  who, 
from  conscientious  scruples,  destroys  the  bottle,  and 
with  it  his  accomplice's  chance  of  immortality.  Dr. 
Caster  refers  to  similar  tales  told  of  Virgil  and  of 
Paracelsus,  and  also  to  one  in  which  Aristotle  plays 
the  corpus  lile  to  the  Rambam's  Faust. 


EGYPT  IN  1888  23 

KARAITES 

Nowadays  there  are  no  Hebrew  manuscripts  of  any 
importance  to  be  bought  in  Cairo.  The  Karaite  com- 
munity possesses  some  interesting  Biblical  manuscripts 
of  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth  centuries,  which, 
though  fragmentary,  are  in  good  preservation.  Their 
Chacham,  Sabbatai  Manjubi,  has  noted  the  dates  and 
descriptions  of  these  at  the  end  of  the  various  books, 
and  he  seems  an  intelligent  man.  The  most  curious  of 
the  Karaite  manuscripts  is  a  Massoretic  Bible,  which 
purports  to  have  been  written  by  Moses,  the  son  of 
Asher,  for  the  congregation  of  the  Beni  Mikra  (i.  e.,the 
Textualists,  or  Karaites)  in  Cairo  in  the  827th  year 
after  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  (i.  e.,  897  of  the 
present  era),  about  the  time  of  Haroun  Alraschid 
and  our  own  Alfred  the  Great.  The  scribe's  super- 
scription runs  as  follows: 

rrvp  T#a  mpn  'ja  hv  innnn  m  TiarD  it?K  p  ntyo  -JK 
.rran  pnnS  yivn  ontyjn  rut?  HIND  mint?  ppS  aroj 

None  of  these  books  durst  they  sell,  for  there  is  writ- 
ten on  each  a  solemn  curse  on  the  man  who  should 
traffic  in  them.  I  heard  that  a  few  months  previously 
many  old  Sepharim  had  been  buried  in  the  Beth  Chaim 
of  the  Perushim,  or  orthodox  Jews,  at  Hasatin,  but  I 
was  assured  by  the  authorities  that  these  comprised 
only  ragged  printed  books  and  modern  Scrolls  of  the 
Law,  which  had  become  Pasul  (unfit  for  use)." 

Sunday,  the  day  after  Kippur,  I  paid  my  first  visit 

"This  was  written  at  the  end  of  1888  when  the  Fostat  Geni- 
zah  was  still  undiscovered.  For  a  list  of  Karaite  manuscripts 
and  books  bought  of  the  Chacham  Sabbatai,  see  "  Karaitica," 
Jewish  Quarterly  Review,  XII,  pp.  674  scq. 


24  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

to  the  Karaite  synagogue,  and  to  my  astonishment 
found  that  the  congregation  kept  the  fast  on  that 
day,  and  thought  me  a  heretic  for  not  so  doing.  I 
could  not  ascertain  whether  their  calendar  made  Sun- 
day the  tenth  of  Tishri,  or  if  they  calculate  by  the 
Arab  lunar  year.  It  may  have  been  only  a  coinci- 
dence, but  that  Sunday  was  the  tenth  day  of  Mohar- 
rem,  the  first  month  of  the  Arab  year  and  an  Arab 
holy  day,  the  Yom  'Ashura,  on  which  Adam  and 
Eve  first  met  after  their  expulsion  from  Paradise,  on 
which  Noah  left  the  Ark,  and  on  which  Hussein, 
Mahomet's  grandson,  fell  at  the  battle  of  Kerbela. 
In  memory  of  his  martyrdom  the  Shiites  still  cut  them- 
selves on  that  day,  and  I  shall  not  soon  forget  the 
horrible  sight  the  dervishes  presented  as  they  marched 
past  the  Gama  el  Hassanen  into  the  Muski,  a  gruesome 
procession  dripping  with  blood.  Before  entering  the 
Karaite  synagogue,  which,  like  a  mosque,  is  richly 
carpeted,  one  is  obliged  to  take  off  one's  shoes.  The 
worshippers  stood  or  squatted  on  the  carpet,  there  were 
no  seats,  nor  any  Almemar  in  the  centre  of  the  build- 
ing. The  Chacham,  a  dignified  old  man,  and  the 
Chazan,  each  had  a  reading  desk  facing  the  ark,  and 
the  devotion  was  admirable.  They  read  the  Torah 
from  a  book  with  points  and  accents,  and  their  ritual 
differs  entirely  from  that  of  the  Sephardim,  and  mainly 
consists  of  quotations  from  the  Bible.  The  women 
and  girls,  gaily  dressed  in  festive  attire,  remained 
outside  in  the  courtyard.  They  stood  in  picturesque 
groups  which  I  longed  to  have  sketched  or  photo- 
graphed, but  when  I  suggested  sending  for  a  photo- 
grapher, I  was  rebuked  with  holy  horror.  The 
Karaites  live  in  a  separate  part  of  the  Jewish  quarter, 


EGYPT  IN  1888  25 

and  their  type — the  most  handsome  I  have  come  across 
— closely,  almost  indistinguishably,  resembles  the 
Arab.  Perhaps  the  race  is  hybridized  by  intermar- 
riage. Indeed,  the  other  Jews  look  down  upon  them 
as  bastards,  and  call  them  Mamzerim,  and  will  not  enter 
their  synagogue  or  mix  with  them.  There  are  not  a 
great  many  of  them,  perhaps  five  hundred  in  all. 

RABBANITE  JEWS 

The  orthodox  community,  which,  of  course,  con- 
stitutes the  large  bulk  of  the  Jews  in  Cairo,  exceeds  ten 
thousand  in  number,  and  is  respectable,  hardworking, 
and  not  unpopular.  Most  of  the  business  is  in  their 
hands.  They  are  the  leading  bankers,  cigarette 
makers,  and  merchants,  and,  of  course,  dealers  in 
Oriental  manufactures  and  curiosities.  Their  stores 
are  the  finest  in  the  bazaars,  and  their  character  for 
probity  is  certainly  placed  higher  by  travellers  than  that 
of  their  Moslem  fellow-citizens.  The  trade  with  the 
interior  of  Africa,  until  our  policy  closed  the  Soudan, 
was  almost  entirely  Jewish,  and,  indeed,  a  member  of 
one  famous  firm  told  me  that  their  Khartoum  agent 
was  now  chancellor  to  the  Mahdi,  whose  exchequer  he 
had  replenished  with  some  fourteen  thousand  pounds 
belonging  to  them !  The  Cairene  Jews  are  the  best  lin- 
guists in  the  world.  Besides  Arabic  and  Hebrew,  all, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Karaites,  talk  the  Jewish- 
Spanish  jargon,  known  as  Ladino.  The  wealthier 
classes  talk  Italian  in  society,  and  have  their  chil- 
-dren  taught  French  and  English.  In  fact,  for 
confusion  of  tongues  the  Egyptian  capital  must 
be  the  modern  Babel,  especially  the  Old  Tower 
on  the  Citadel,  now  that  it  is  tenanted  by  Tommy 


26  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Atkins,  who  in  all  languages  makes  himself  under- 
stood. I  saw  no  black  Jews,  and  do  not  believe  there 
are  any,  although  I  was  assured  that  numbers  of  white 
Jews  can  and  do  live  up  the  Nile  in  Berber  and 
Khartoum,  and  even  further  in  the  interior  and  nearer 
the  equator.  Practically  all  are  Sephardim,  and  the 
prevalence  of  red  hair  is  a  peculiarity  which  may  seem 
strange.  Most  of  them  dress  in  Oriental  fashion  and 
to  the  untutored  eye  are  hardly  distinguishable  from 
the  Moslem.  They  act  in  strict  conformity  with  the 
observances  of  our  faith,  and,  barring  their  foible  for 
superstitions,  which,  like  all  Jews,  they  have  borrowed 
from  their  non-Jewish  and  un- Jewish  neighbors,  are  a 
very  creditable  community.  Their  charitable  require- 
ments are  looked  after  by  a  committee  of  the  leading 
members,  and  I  understand  that  money  is  being  col- 
lected to  build  a  sort  of  Cathedral  Synagogue  on  the 
European  model  in  the  Ismailiya  quarter.  Still,  their 
communal  institutions  cannot  be  said  to  be  very 
flourishing.  The  hospital  is  somewhat  primitive,  but 
the  dispensary  not  bad.  The  schools  were  founded 
in  1840  with  much  eclat,  by  Cremieux  and  Munk, 
after  the  triumphant  return  of  Sir  Moses  Mon- 
tefiore  and  the  great  French  jurist  from  their  mission 
to  Damascus.  One  result  of  this  mission  was  to 
knit  the  Eastern  Jews  to  those  of  the  West,  and  the 
visible  expression  of  this  union  was  the  Alliance  Is- 
raelite Universelle,  established  by  Cremieux,  who  to 
this  day  is  affectionately  regarded  throughout  the  East 
as  its  beneficent  founder  and  Grand  Master,  and  his 
portrait  treasured  accordingly.  Victor  Hugo,  by  the 
by,  who  survived  him,  had  appointed  him  one  of  his 
executors.  But,  though  in  Egypt  the  Alliance  found 


EGYPT  IN  1888  27 

its  first  field  of  operations,  the  schools  are  not 
yet  much  to  boast  of,  nor  do  they  provide  suffi- 
cient accommodation  for  the  population.  Till  Ma- 
dame Otterbourg,  of  Paris,  and  her  sisters  visited 
Cairo  two  or  three  years  ago,  there  was  no  Jewish 
teacher  in  the  girls'  school,  and  no  Hebrew  or  religion 
was  taught  there.  This  defect  has  since  been  remedied, 
but,  though  the  girls  look  most  intelligent,  the  style  of 
instruction  and  the  school  appliances  are  much  inferior 
to  those  of  other  schools  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  in 
Asia  Minor,  though  even  these  err  in  being  rather  secu- 
lar than  Jewish.  The  boys'  school  in  the  Muski  is 
more  satisfactory,  the  pupils  clever,  the  masters  ener- 
getic. The  schoolrooms  seem  somewhat  exiguous, 
dark,  and  stuffy,  in  comparison  with  a  London  Board 
School,  but  this  may  be  the  fault  of  the  climate.  The 
fierce  light  that  beats  upon  Egypt  and  hatches  the  cro- 
codiles' eggs  is  not  esteemed  so  highly  by  the  natives 
as  it  is  by  one  accustomed  to  a  northern  sun.  The 
"  Ecole  Payante,"  or  "  Ecole  Cattaui,"  for  boys  is  de- 
serving of  much  praise,  and  it  were  well  if  we  had  a 
similar  institution  in  London.  It  is  a  school  founded 
by  M.  Cattaui  for  the  children  of  well-to-do  parents. 
The  instruction  given  is  good,  about  that  of  an  average 
private  school  in  England.  The  programme  includes 
Euclid,  algebra,  and  geography,  and  especially  lan- 
guages— Hebrew,  Arabic,  Italian,  and  English.  The 
Hebrew  is  elementary — Rashi  in  the  highest  class. 
The  boys  stay  till  they  are  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old, 
and  then  go  into  business,  or  in  some  cases  are  sent  to 
Europe  to  complete  their  education. 

In  all  the  schools  the  prevalence  of  ophthalmia — 
the  curse  of  Cairo — strikes  one  as  very  terrible.     The 


28  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

girls  seem  to  suffer  even  more  than  the  boys,  and  the 
head-mistress  assured  me  that  a  very  large  proportion 
of  the  pupils  was  always  absent  through  diseases  of 
the  eye. 

OLD  CAIRO 

One  of  the  most  noteworthy  of  the  Jewish  antiqui- 
ties in  or  near  Cairo  is  the  old  Jewish  burial  ground 
of  Basatin  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile,  with  its 
flat  white  gravestones,  which  form  so  curious  a  land- 
mark as  the  train  passes  on  its  way  to  the  baths  of 
Helouan.  But  even  this  ancient  God's-acre,  with  all  its 
silent  records  of  the  past,  must  yield  in  interest  to  the 
synagogue  in  Old  Cairo,  or  "  Babylon,"  as  it  was  some- 
times called.  Among  the  archives  of  the  congregation 
kept  for  safe  custody  in  the  strong  room  of  a  communal 
leader — and  banker — is  a  firman  from  some  Soldan 
or  Kaliph.  This  title  deed  is  eight  hundred  years  old, 
or  more,  and  purports  to  confirm  the  Jews  in  the  own- 
ership of  the  joty  St?  nDJDn  m.  The  synagogue  is  in 
what  was  formerly  known  as  Fostat,  and  it  is  a  pretty 
longish  drive  from  Cairo  proper.  Maimonides  calls 
it  a  two  Sabbath  days'  journey,  and  it  is  quite  three  or 
four  miles  away  from  the  Jewish  quarter  in  the  Muski. 

The  guide  books  say  that  it  was  once  the  Church 
of  St.  Michael,  and  in  style  of  architecture  it  certainly 
does  resemble  the  Coptic  basilicas  which  adjoin  it. 
Associated  with  it  are  several  curious  and  interesting 
legends  about  Moses,  Elijah,  and  Ezra;  it  is  alluded 
to  by  our  Jewish  Marco  Polo,  the  great  traveller  Ben- 
jamin of  Tudela,  who  visited  it  in  1173,  and  says  that 
on  that  very  spot  Moses  was  supposed  to  have  prayed 
that  the  plague  of  hail  might  cease.  By  the  natives 


EGYPT  IN  1888  29 

it  is  known  as  the  Esh  Shamyan,  or  Keniset  Eliyahu. 
To  the  right  and  left  of  the  centre  aisle,  which  termi- 
nates in  the  principal  ark,  are  alcoves  containing 
subsidiary  arks,  on  the  doors  of  which  the  twenty- 
fourth  Psalm  is  carved  in  relief.  This  is  very 
usual  in  Oriental  synagogues,  which,  like  others 
of  the  Sephardic  rite,  are  not  embellished  by  cur- 
tains embroidered  by  the  fair  hands  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  Israel.  The  shape  of  the  letters  is  antique, 
and  the  workmanship  extremely  good.  High  up 
(about  sixteen  feet)  on  the  right  corner  of  the  alcove 
to  the  left  is  a  little  cupboard,  where  they  keep  the 
Scroll  of  the  Torah  which  Ezra  the  Scribe  is  said 
to  have  written  with  his  own  hand.  Graetz  has 
denounced  this  famous  scroll  as  a  sham,  a  fraud, 
a  delusion,  and  a  snare,  but  the  natives  attach, 
or  profess  to  attach,  great  veneration  to  it,  and  have  a 
superstition  that  whoever  is  present  when  it  is  taken  out 
will  die  within  the  year.  Dr.  A.  Asher  suggested  that, 
though  the  reluctance  to  show  the  book  was  too  strong 
to  be  feigned,  its  superstitions  element  was  only  a  make- 
believe,  for  he  humorously  attributed  the  objection 
to  a  fear  of  the  true  facts  of  the  case  being  discovered, 
should  the  precious  manuscript  be  "  seen  too  oft." 
Anyhow,  I  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  persuading 
my  cicerone,  who  was  the  beadle's  son,  and  presumably 
au  fait  with  things  divine,  and  a  holy  man,  to  let  me 
climb  a  very  shaky  ladder  and  have  a  look  at  it.  At 
last  I  had  my  way,  but  not  without  almost  realizing 
his  superstitious  fears,  for  I  was  within  a  little  of 
breaking  my  neck.  The  steps  were  rotten,  and  as  I 
stood  on  the  topmost  rung  I  swayed,  and  felt  like 
Mahomet,  'twixt  heaven  and  earth. 


30  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

I  found  a  door  closing  a  small  aperture,  opened  it, 
and  discovered  a  torn  and  somewhat  mouldy  Sepher  in- 
side, which  was  evidently  Pasul.  The  writing  was 
easily  legible  and  to  my  inexperienced  eyes  quite 
modern.  I  should  be  greatly  surprised  if  it  were 
found  to  be  three  hundred  years  old. 

INSCRIPTIONS 

In  a  corresponding  alcove,  on  the  right  hand 
side,  I  discovered  a  genuine  antiquity,  which  has  not, 
to  my  knowledge,  been  alluded  to  by  any  travellers. 
About  twelve  feet  high  and  round  three  sides  of  the 
wall  runs  a  single  line  inscription  carved  in  the  stone, 
the  carving  good,  the  characters  antique,  and  no 
spaces  between  words.  It  is  worth  while  reproducing, 
if  only  because  it  furnishes  a  foil  to  the  not  less  affect- 
ing, though  so  much  more  modern,  inscription  in 
the  Cattaui  Synagogue  to  which  I  have  already  re- 
ferred. As  far  as  I  could  make  it  out,  it  runs  thus  : 


. 

I  read  as  follows  : 

irns  sS  onr  umn  ""  nn  D'jtyn  nmpn  tpmn  nn1?^  in 
win  "p  piajrj  ip'n  }p?n  l?Kjjn"ii"D"p  jana  yivrr 

ffDNSn  JMTH  |pin  omsK 

The  inscription  seems  to  be  to  the  memory  of  "  David 
Solomon,  who  was  snatched  away  while  of  tender 
years  ;  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  brought  him  to  rest. 
May  the  Lord  comfort  the  heart  of  our  brother,  the 
princely  Joshua,  son  of  our  Rabbi  and  Teacher,  the 
holy  Chananel,  the  estimable  sage  who  rests  in  Eden, 
himself  the  son  of  our  Rabbi  and  Teacher,  the  sage 
Abraham,  the  famous  Alamsi  (Alamin?)  !  "  The  last 


EGYPT  IN  1888  31 

word  is  evidently  a  surname,  and  perhaps  the  key  to 
the  whole  memorial  inscription.  Unfortunately  the  last 
letter  (or  letters)  is  covered,  as  in  the  two  other  cases, 
by  boards  of  wood,  which  I  could  not  remove.  The 
epithet  Kadosh,  "  holy,"  is  generally  applied  to  mar- 
tyrs only.  There  is  no  date,  but  I  should  fancy  it  can- 
not well  be  less  than  five  hundred  years  old,  and  may 
possibly  be  considerably  older. 

In  the  cloisters  of  one  of  the  churches  at  Florence, 
there  is  a  similarly  sad  inscription  about  a  lost  child, 
"  whose  parents  all  mothers  that  saw  it  used  to  envy." 
The  story  is  not  an  uncommon  one — the  loss  of  a  prom- 
ising child  happens  only  too  often,  but  one  touch  of 
nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin.  We  know  nothing 
of  the  cause  of  the  little  lad's  death,  and  are  free  to  pic- 
ture to  ourselves  the  romance  of  a  terrible  life  under 
the  Fatimite  Kaliphs  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades. 
The  whole  synagogue  is  a  gem  of  antiquity.  Divine 
service  is  still  held  there  regularly,  but  though  the 
attendance  is  sparse,  creature  comforts  have  to  be 
provided  for,  and  it  was  not  without  a  shudder  that  I 
heard  that  the  respectable  community  of  Cairo  had 
resolved  to  have  it  whitewashed,  cleaned,  and  reno- 
vated in  a  few  months.  My  fears  were  not  justified ; 
indeed,  it  was  probably  owing  to  the  restoration  of  the 
building  that  the  famous  Genizah  was  discovered,  into 
which  it  was  the  author's  privilege  to  be  the  first  Euro- 
pean to  enter,  on  January  3,  1896. 

A  JEWISH  WEDDING 

On  the  eve  of  Succoth,  I  saw  a  Jewish  wedding. 
My  dragoman,  Mustapha  Abdwerahman,  was  piloting 
me  through  the  Bazaar  of  the  Saddlers,  when  suddenly 


32  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

the  strains  of  weird  Arab  music  struck  upon  our  ears. 
Like  all  Egyptians  passionately  devoted  to  anything 
in  the  nature  of  a  fantasiya,  my  guide  made  me  follow 
him  to  the  source  of  the  melody.  We  threaded  our 
way  through  a  narrow  lane,  the  houses  of  which  had  a 
common  gallery  on  the  first  floor,  where  three  musi- 
cians were  stationed.  We  climbed  up  and  found  a 
room  full  of  people.  The  beadle  of  the  Misseri  Syna- 
gogue was  there,  and  from  the  honor  shown  him,  I 
soon  gathered  that  I  was  in  a  Jewish  interior  and  not 
in  a  Moslem  harem  as  I  had  hoped.  The  ceremony  was 
just  over,  and  the  friends  of  the  happy  couple  were 
congratulating  them  and  taking  refreshments  at  the 
same  time.  I,  too,  paid  my  respects  to  the  bride,  who 
sat  beside  her  parents  on  a  divan  at  one  end  of  the 
room,  while  her  husband  lingered  shyly  at  the  other. 
She  was  young,  very  young,  and  her  husband  was  not 
much  older,  but  as  to  her  beauty  I  cannot  speak,  for 
she  was  thickly  veiled.  The  bridal  dress  of  some 
flimsy  white  stuff  did  not  seem  very  different  from 
what  one  wears  in  Europe,  and,  indeed,  the  similarity 
of  the  function  to  the  wedding  "  at  homes,"  which  are 
growing  so  fashionable,  struck  me  as  ludicrously 
incongruous.  The  people  were  evidently  poor,  but 
everything  was  clean,  and  everbody  was  most  decorous 
and  polite.  The  young  man  was  an  artisan,  who 
certainly  gave  evidence  of  considerable  nous  in  avail- 
ing himself  of  what  was  practically  three  days'  holiday 
for  his  honeymoon. 

TABERNACLES 

I    was    struck    with    the    number    and    size,    nay, 
even     elegance,     of    the    tabernacles     in     the     fash- 


EGYPT  IN  1888  33 

ionable  Ismailiya  quarter  near  the  Ezbekiye,  or 
Hyde  Park  of  Cairo — of  course,  the  Jewish  quarter 
literally  swarmed  with  them.  One  European  indis- 
pensable I  missed :  no  Succah  was  provided  with  shut- 
ters— but  then  it  never  rains !  Most  were  built  on  the 
flat  roofs,  and  some  in  the  gardens,  though  these  are  as 
a  rule  too  shady  for  the  purpose.  The  roof  was  com- 
posed of  palm  branches,  an  extravagance  to  my  eyes, 
which  have  been  accustomed  to  see  Ethrogim  hanging 
from  the  roof  as  ornaments,  but  Lulabim  never  before ! 
However,  palms  are  abundant  in  Egypt,  and  though  I 
had  to  pay  a  very  European  price  for  my  own  Ethrog 
and  Lulab,  T  suppose  it  was  for  the  same  reason  that 
the  stranger  finds  coals  dear  at  Newcastle.  Looking 
round  from  my  entertainer's  roof,  I  could  see  so  many 
palaces  with  large  Succoth  that  I  could  almost  imagine 
myself  in  a  new  Jerusalem,  and  feel  happy,  were  it  not 
for  an  uneasy  feeling  that  there  is  a  tendency,  as  a 
Jewish  colleague,  an  advocate  in  the  International 
Tribunal,  wittily  told  me,  to  replace  the  Temple  by 
the  Bourse  in  the  Place  Mehemet  AH  in  Alexandria. 
Indeed,  the  Emperor  Hadrian  noticed  this  failing  of 
Israel  in  Egypt,  for,  in  a  letter  to  Servianus,  he  says 
of  the  Alexandrians  that  "  they  all  really  recognize  one 
god  only,  the  same  who  is  worshipped  by  Christians, 
Jews,  and  all  nations."  That  god  is,  of  course.  Mam- 
mon, whose  very  name,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  Semitic. 

THE  EXODUS 

Of  the  Egypt  of  the  Exodus  I  had  but  a  glimpse 
as  our  English  engine  snorted  through  the  dusty  land 
of  Goshen.  We  sailed  across  the  Red  Sea,  and  after- 
wards rode  for  a  few  hours  on  donkeys  in  the  desert  of 


34  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Arabia  Petnea  as  far  as  Ain  Musa.  This  is  an  oasis, 
which  some  authorities  (e.  g.,  Brugsch)  identify  as 
Elim,  where  there  were  twelve  wells  of  water  and 
three-score  and  ten  palm  trees.  Arab  traditions  point 
to  it  as  Marah,  for  the  water  in  some  of  the  wells  there 
is  more  brackish  than  in  others.  Some  is  quite  drinka- 
ble, and  it  does  not  require  a  great  stretch  of  the 
imagination  to  attribute  its  comparative  palatability 
to  a  miracle.  Most  probably,  however,  Ain  Musa 
is  the  place  where  the  Israelites  sang  the  triumphal 
Song  of  Moses.  I  devoured  multitudes  of  dates 
which  grew  there,  and  blessed  the  spot,  for  they  were 
very  nice.  On  the  way  to  the  Suez  Canal  we  had  also 
passed  Tell  el-Yehudyeh  (the  Hill,  or  Mound,  of  the 
Jews),  about  twenty  miles  from  Cairo,  where  Onias, 
the  high  priest,  erected  a  temple  for  the  Palestinian 
refugees  who  fled  with  him  from  the  bigotry  of  Antio- 
chus.  No  trace  of  the  building  remains,  but  Brugsch 
discovered  some  Jewish  antiquities  there,  now  ex- 
hibited in  the  museum  of  Boulak.  But  all  these  de- 
tails, are  they  not  written  in  the  books  of  those  wise 
in  the  wisdom  of  Egypt? 


FROM  JAFFA  TO  JERUSALEM 

The  Crowded  East  —  Landing  at  Jaffa  —  The  Drive  to  Jeru- 
salem —  The  Suburbs  of  Jerusalem. 

THE  CROWDED  EAST 

THE  greatest  of  all  surprises  to  the  explorer  of  the 
old  Old  World  is  the  smallness  of  everything.  To 
modern  notions  all  ancient  cities  seem  tiny,  and  except 
for  the  oceans  of  talk  which  surround  and  glorify 
them  they  would  be  deemed  utterly  insignificant.  Of 
no  place  is  this  so  true  as  of  Palestine.  The  Holy  Land 
which  occupies  so  much  of  our  literature,  so  much  of 
our  thoughts,  which  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a  part  of  our 
very  selves,  and  in  a  moral,  if  not  in  a  real  sense,  the 
hub  of  the  universe,  the  cradle  of  mankind,  is  in  area 
no  larger  than  Kent,  and  in  population  less  than  Liver- 
pool. Another  surprise  is  its  proximity  and  accessi- 
bility. It  is  only  a  night's  journey  from  the  Suez 
Canal,  the  great  thoroughfare  of  modern  commerce. 
Port  Said  is  barely  six  days'  journey  from  London, 
and  Jaffa  only  a  dozen  hours  from  Port  Said.  Un- 
fortunately, so  far  as  material  prosperity  and  prospects 
are  concerned,  once  round  the  clock  is  handicap  enough 
to  convert  the  good  old  times,  when  the  valley  of  the. 
Jordan  was  the  highway  of  nations,  into  the  desolation 
of  the  present.  Nowadays,  instead  of  rich  caravans 
to  tax,  the  natives  can  fleece  only  poor  pilgrims  or 
stingy  tourists  like  ourselves.  Palestine  is  a  cul-de-sac, 
and  must  remain  so  until  altered  by  some  such  marvel- 
lous scheme  as  the  Duke  of  Sutherland's.  The  Duke 


36  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

wishes  us  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  natural  depression 
of  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea,  so  as  to  constitute 
an  interoceanic  canal,  which  will  give  us  a  short  cut 
to  India ;  but  the  French  millions  sunk  at  Panama  will 
prove  a  commercial  deterrent  more  difficult  than  all 
the  obstacles  provided  by  nature.  They  talk  of  a 
railway  from  Jaffa  to  Jerusalem,  and  when  I  was 
at  Constantinople,  they  said  that  M.  Navon  had  ob- 
tained a  concession  from  the  Sublime  Porte,  and  that 
the  Sultan  had  actually  signed  the  firman.  I  do  not 
know  how  far  this  is  true ;  it  is  whispered,  indeed,  that 
an  Oriental  railway  king  of  many  millions  is  syndicat- 
ing the  project,  but  I  venture  to  predict  that,  unless 
the  present  Governor  of  Palestine  loses  his  Vilayet 
within  a  short  time,  and  a  new  Pasha  arises  who  does 
like  Navon,  it  will  be  ten  years  at  least  before  the  rail- 
way will  be  an  accomplished  fact.  I  doubt  whether 
it  would  pay.  Under  the  present  conditions  of  little 
passenger  and  no  goods  traffic,  it  certainly  could  not, 
and  I  fancy  that  the  gradients  would  be  found  un- 
workably  steep  for  anything  but  the  lightest  of  steam 
tramways. 

LANDING  AT  JAFFA 

I  left  the  land  of  cartouches  and  tarbouches  on  a 
Tuesday  evening,  and  before  I  was  half-awake  was  be- 
wildered by  the  babel  of  sounds  which  warned  us  that 
the  mongrel  Arab  boatmen  of  Jaffa  had  surrounded 
our  vessel,  and  were  shouting  and  touting  for  a  fare. 
The  ship  had  to  anchor  in  the  open  bay,  for  Jaffa 
harbor  is  a  thing  of  the  past  only,  and  as  the  sea  is 
generally  very  rough  just  there,  the  passenger  finds  that 
the  discomforts  he  experiences  in  the  landing  boat 


37 

makes  the  land  of  his  expectations  all  the  dearer  to  him. 
As  soon  as  we  heard  that  land  was  in  sight  we,  of 
course,  rushed  upon  deck  to  gaze  upon  the  Promised 
Land.  For  a  while  we  feasted  our  eyes  upon  the  beau- 
ties of  the  little  port  which,  like  Capri,  nestles  on  the 
cliff.  Immediately  before  us  frowned  the  coast  where 
Jonah  was  swallowed  up  by  the  whale,  and  where  Per- 
seus gallantly  rescued  Andromeda,  but  I  must  confess 


that  I  could  trace  no  remains  of  the  terrors  of  the  Bible 
monster  or  the  Greek  beauty's  fascinations.  Hurry 
and  worry  are  the  great  enemies  of  sentiment,  and  I 
must  plead  guilty  to  having,  at  that  particular  psycho- 
logical moment,  felt  more  interested  in  Cook's  red- 
jacketed  boatmen  than  in  all  the  picturesque  beauties  on 
which  my  eyes  might  have  feasted.  Some  time  elapsed 
before  the  red-jackets  were  allowed  to  board  us. 
Quarantine  regulations  had  to  be  complied  with,  and 
the  Turkish  officials  arc  great  sticklers  for  formalities. 


38  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

It  was  a  Russian  boat — the  "  Cesarewitch  " — we  were 
on,  and  I  cannot  conceive  in  what  language  the  ship's 
papers  could  have  been  made  out.  To  my  personal 
knowledge  none  of  the  officers  could  speak  any  civil- 
ized language  except  Russian, — and  surely  Russian  is 
not  civilized, — and  when  one  of  them  had  by  chance 
rendered  me  some  small  service  I  had  to  thank  him 
in  Arabic !  Even  in  Syria  "  Thank  you  "  is  the  most 
useful  word  in  the  vocabulary,  for  does  it  not  signify 
the  grateful  expectation  of  good  things  to  come  ? 

THE  DRIVE  TO  JERUSALEM 

As  soon  as  I  could,  I  placed  myself  under  the  wing 
of  Cook's  representative,  the  modern  Mercury's  Mer- 
cury. I  am  afraid  I  worried  the  excellent  man  not  a 
little,  but  I  was  extremely  anxious  to  get  to  Jerusa- 
lem before  nightfall.  I  had  only  eight  hours  to  spare. 
Now  the  guide  books,  which  differed  in  everything 
else,  agreed  in  representing  the  distance  to  Jerusalem  as 
eleven  hours  and  a  half  at  least,  and  "  somewhat  too 
long  for  a  single  day."  Accordingly,  I  was  prepared  to 
do  heroic  things  on  Arab  steeds  and  emulate  school-boy 
recollections  of  Mr.  Richard  Turpin's  famous  ride  to 
York.  But  adventures  are  not  to  the  adventurous,  and 
Dame  Fortune,  who  has  a  mighty  hankering  after  the 
commonplace,  had  arranged  that  my  path  was  to  be 
made  smooth.  Russian  Archdukes  were  on  their  way  to 
Palestine,  and  even  Turkish  indifference  had  to  yield 
before  the  risk  of  shaking  Imperial  pilgrims  overmuch, 
and  so  the  road  was  actually  being  repaired.  I  was 
in  too  great  a  hurry  to  linger  in  Jaffa  that  morning, 
and  as  everybody  is  probably  more  interested  in  Jerusa- 
lem than  Jaffa,  I  must  defer  an  account  of  its  eight 


FROM  JAFFA  TO  JERUSALEM  39 

hundred  lovely  gardens,  of  which  I  am  sorry  to  say 
only  ten  are  in  Jewish  hands.  Cook's  man  provided  me 
with  one  of  Howard's  wagons,  and,  after  a  light  break- 
fast, we  got  away  by  nine  o'clock.  Our  vehicle  was  a 
sort  of  char-a-banc,  and  it  did  not  take  us  long  to 
discover  that  springs  were  conspicuous  by  their  ab- 
sence. Windows  there  were  none,  and  though  the 
curtains  kept  the  heat  in,  my  hat  was  less  fortunate. 
I  had  doffed  the  imposing  pith  helmet  with  which  I 
had  hoped  to  astonish  the  natives,  and  after  a  few 
miles'  rumbling  on,  I  all  at  once  discovered  that  it 
had  vanished,  so  that  till  my  arrival  in  Jerusalem  I  had 
only  a  light  boating  cap  with  which  to  face  the  midday 
sun.  We  had  three  horses  and  two  Jehus,  both  of 
whom  looked  remarkably  like  co-religionists  of  ours, 
but  were  in  reality  pure-blooded  Syrians,  whose  type  of 
face  proved  their  Semitic,  but  not  a  Jewish  origin.  In 
high  spirits  we  started  merrily  on  our  way.  Before 
long,  however,  the  off-side  leader  got  a  leg  over  the 
traces  and  bolted,  and  we  were  within  a  little  of  being 
precipitated  over  the  embankment,  for  the  road  there 
was  a  few  feet  higher  than  the  fields  of  Indian  corn  on 
either  side.  Luckily,  however,  the  horse  fell  before  a 
worse  disaster  happened,  and,  though  we  rather  bun- 
gled at  first,  we  managed,  with  a  remarkable  but  choice 
selection  of  Arabic  oaths,  to  extricate  the  jade,  and 
were  soon  making  up  for  lost  time.  After  about  a  dozen 
miles  or  so  on  the  flat  we  reached  Ramleh,  where  we 
refreshed  ourselves  with  coffee.  After  that  we  left 
the  sandy  but  wooded  plain  of  the  sea-coast  with  its 
palms  and  orange  trees  and  cactus  hedges,  and  com- 
menced the  ascent  into  the  wild  and  rocky  mountains, 
for  Jerusalem  lies  twenty-five  hundred  feet  high. 


40  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Here  the  likeness  to  Swiss  scenery  impressed  itself 
more  and  more.  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
travel  over  a  good  many  mountain  roads  in  the  Lake 
District  and  the  Highlands,  in  the  Alps,  and  Tyrol, 
and  Apennines,  but,  except  perhaps  on  the  Stelvio 
Pass,  I  do  not  remember  ever  having  seen  a  more 
picturesque  landscape  than  that  which  now  disclosed 
itself  to  us.  It  was  a  most  agreeable  disappointment, 
for  what  I  had  been  led  to  anticipate  was  a  dull  and 
dreary  road,  tolerable  only  because  of  its  end.  My 
companion  was  a  German  professor, — a  colleague  of  a 
great  friend  of  mine, — and  his  conversation  was  re- 
markably interesting,  although  he  damped  my  sen- 
timental ardors  and  irrepressible  enthusiasm.  He  was 
a  Teufelsdrockh,  whose  only  love  was  science,  and 
who  professed  to  be  altogether  unmoved  by  the  his- 
torical associations  which  began  to  crowd  in  upon 
us.  He  seemed  concerned  only  about  the  geological 
peculiarities  of  the  country,  which,  for  the  rest,  are 
striking  enough.  Our  drivers  did  not  loiter  long  on 
the  way,  for,  urged  by  the  anticipations  of  bakhshish, 
which  was  to  vary  inversely  as  the  length  of  the 
drive,  they  did  not  spare  their  horses.  Thrice  we 
stopped  on  the  way.  At  Bab-el-Wady  we  had  expected 
to  be  greeted  by  a  Jewish  host,  but  he  had  been  re- 
placed by  a  Levantine,  who  told  us  some  cock  and 
bull  story  about  his  predecessor's  peccadilloes.  At 
our  last  wait,  at  Kuloniyeh,  once  a  Roman  colony  and 
perhaps  the  Emmaus  of  the  New  Testament,  we 
were  met  by  a  dragoman  who  came  to  sing  the  praises 
of  his  hotel.  When  Dr.  R.  declared  his  intention 
of  patronizing  Howard's  Hotel,  and  I  the  Hotel 
Jerusalem,  he  hurried  back  on  his  donkey  and  got  in 


FROM  JAFFA  TO  JERUSALEM  41 

several  minutes  before  we  did.  We  arrived  before 
five  o'clock,  and  found  that  the  fact  of  two  strangers 
starting  from  Jaffa  had  been  at  once  telegraphed  to 
the  hotel  keepers  by  local  friends.  Modern  improve- 
ments had  disappointed  us  of  our  expectation  of  over- 
whelming the  Orientals  with  a  surprise  visit,  and  a 
Matthew  Arnold  would  have  protested  that  Palestine 
was  indeed  true  to  its  etymology  and  a  land  of 
Philistines. 

THE  SUBURBS  OF  JERUSALEM 

The  approach  to  Jerusalem  was  not  imposing.  No 
minarets  or  steeples  can  be  seen  from  the  Jaffa  Road, 
and  the  quaint  old  Saracen  fortifications  and  walls, 
which  the  Crusaders  found  so  hard  a  nut  to  crack, 
are  not  visible  till  a  turn  in  the  road  brings  one 
almost  suddenly  to  the  Jaffa  Gate.  But  if  we  failed 
to  see  any  such  architectural  embellishments  before 
driving  into  the  courtyard  of  the  Hotel  Jerusalem, 
we  noticed  what  from  a  practical,  if  not  an  aesthetic, 
point  of  view  was  more  satisfactory.  Our  eyes  were 
gladdened  by  trim  rows  of  cottages  built  of  white 
limestone,  the  glare  of  which  was  relieved  by  their  red- 
tiled  roofs.  There  were  hundreds  of  these  little  houses 
constituting  a  new  Jerusalem  without  the  walls,  and 
giving  ground  for  the  hope  that  there  is  yet  a  bright 
future  for  our  co-religionists,  as  hard  work  and  thrift 
replace  the  pauperism  of  past  ages.  Almost  all  these 
houses  were  tenanted  by  Jews,  of  whom  nearly  five 
thousand  live  outside  the  Jaffa  Gate.  Most  were 
erected  by  building  societies,  some  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial  Committee, 
but  a  large  number  by  the  independent  co-operation 


42  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

of  bond  fide  residents,  and  paid  for  out  of  earnings. 
As  soon  as  I  entered  the  hotel,  the  proprietor,  Mr. 
Kaminitz,  made  me  feel  quite  at  home,  and  my  friend 
regretted  that  he  had  pledged  himself  to  the  rival  es- 
tablishment. Of  the  cleanliness  and  comfort  of  Ka- 
minitz's  Hotel,  of  his  courtesy  and  that  of  his  two 
sons,  and  of  the  excellence  of  his  wife's  cuisine,  I  can- 
not speak  too  highly.  But  he  does  not  need  my  re- 
commendation, the  eloquent  praises  in  all  languages 
from  Hebrew  to  Greek  and  English  to  Arabic  con- 
tained in  his  Visitors'  Book  would  alone  suffice  to 
tempt  travellers  to  patronize  his  hotel.  The  Earl 
and  Countess  of  Meath,  who  spent  six  weeks  there, 
Baron  and  Baroness  Edmond  de  Rothschild,  and  the 
Jewish  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  at  Constanti- 
nople and  his  wife,  were  among  those  who  during  the 
twelve  months  previous  had  expressed  their  entire 
satisfaction  and  delight  with  the  attention  they  had 
received. 


JERUSALEM 

Architecture  —  Beggars  —  The  Jews  of  Jerusalem  —  Russian 
Jews  in  Palestine  —  A  Chassidish  Dance  —  The  Rejoicing  of 
the  Law  —  The  Britzker  Rav  at  Jerusalem  —  The  Roth- 
schild School  in  1888  —  Languages  —  The  Workshops  — 
The  Pupils  —  The  Orphan  School  and  Others  —  Climate  and 
Sanitation  —  Underground  Jerusalem  —  Hospitals  —  Doctor 
d'Arbela  —  The  Missionaries  —  Clocks  —  A  Meeting  — 
Tombs  —  King  David's  Sepulchre  —  Catacombs  —  Der- 
vishes —  Synagogues  —  The  Chalukah  System  —  Jewish 
Artisans. 

ARCHITECTURE 

THERE  are  no  great  triumphs  of  architecture  in  Jeru- 
salem. It  is  not  an  Athens  or  a  Rome.  What  build- 
ings there  are,  are  connected  with  religions,  and  mostly 
iconoclastic  religions.  Even  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  with  the  exception  of  some  tawdry  if  ex- 
pensive additions  by  the  Catholics,  Roman  and  Greek, 
is  severely  simple.  The  Mosque  of  Omar  is  exter- 
nally "beautiful,  but  association  lends  it  a  glamour  it  had 
not  otherwise  possessed.  Well-preserved  ruins  are  dis- 
appointingly few,  but  then  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that 
Jerusalem  has  been  destroyed  fourteen  times  and  as 
often  rebuilt.  Some  portions  of  the  Cyclopean  Walls  of 
the  Second  Temple  and  of  Herod's,  notably  the 
•3^0  Snu,or  Western  Wall,  have  survived  all  the  on- 
slaughts of  time  and  the  enemy,  but  they  are  grand 
rather  than  handsome.  Everywhere  Jerusalem  is  more 
interesting  than  artistic.  The  quaintest  of  its  ancient 
buildings  is  the  so-called  Tomb  of  Absalom,  in  the  Val- 


44  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

ley  of  Jehoshaphat,  close  by  the  Jewish  gravestones 
that  cluster  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives.  It  is  a 
small  square  chapel  or  vault,  cut  out  of  the  limestone 
rock,  surrounded  by  about  a  dozen  pillars  with  Ionic 
capitals ;  the  whole  surmounted  by  a  curious,  indented 
cupola,  something  like  that  of  the  Pavilion  in  Brighton. 
Jews  and  Gentiles  firmly  believe  in  the  authenticity  of 
the  monument,  and  to  this  day  our  co-religionists  are 
in  the  habit  of  throwing  stones  at  the  place,  so  as  to 
impress  on  their  children  their  undying  detestation  of 
a  rebellious  son.  In  its  present  form,  it  has  probably 
been  repaired  and  restored  by  the  Romans,  possibly 
under  Trajan  or  Hadrian,  when  the  Imperial  archi- 
tects followed  the  fashion  and  aped  the  Greeks.  But  it 
is  quite  likely  that  the  tomb-chamber  was  originally  cut 
out  of  the  solid  rock  by  the  grief-stricken  David,  and 
that  tradition  is  correct  in  its  identification  of  the  ceno- 
taph, despite  the  comparatively  modern  alterations 
which  the  Romans  made.  Anyhow,  it  would  not  be  the 
only  antiquity  there  which  has  witnessed  that  mighty 
people's  origin,  development,  decline,  and  fall.  The 
visitor  who  expects  to  find  even  traces  of  a  specifically 
Jewish  architecture  must  be  wofully  disappointed. 
None  ever  existed,  and  even  the  Temple  itself  was 
probably  only  an  imitation  of  the  masterpieces  of  Egypt 
and  Assyria,  and  in  style  a  cross  between  the  two. 
In  Les  premieres  civilisations  Gustave  Le  Bon  says 
of  us  that  "  leurs  villes,  leurs  temples,  leurs  palais,  les 
Juifs  etaient  profondement  incapables  de  les  clever 
eux-memes;  et  au  temps  de  leur  plus  grande  puissance, 
sous  le  regne  de  Solomon,  c'est  de  I'ctranger  qu'ils 
furent  obliges  de  faire  venir  les  architectes,  les 
ouvriers,  les  artistes  dont  nul  emule  n'existait  alors  au 


JERUSALEM  45 

sein  d'Isracl."  This  is  very  unflattering,  but  I  am  not 
Chauvinist  enough  to  deny  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  truth  in  the  statement.  It  is  enough  for  us  that, 
as  trustees  for  humanity,  we  held  the  Land  and  the 
Book. 

BEGGARS 

As  regards  its  inhabitants,  Jerusalem  is  much  better 
than  its  reputation.  An  impression  prevails  that  it  is 
a  city  of  beggars,  and  I,  for  one,  was  fully  prepared  to 
find  that  it  was  so.  I  expected  that  even  a  week's 
residence  would  be  rendered  intolerable  by  their  pes- 
terings  and  complaints.  But  I  was  most  agreeably 
disappointed,  and  can  honestly  say  that  I  was  less 
annoyed  by  mendicants,  during  my  stay  there,  than  I 
have  been  in  Paris  itself.  Of  course,  there  is  a  fright- 
ful amount  of  poverty,  but  in  the  East  it  is  not  so 
obtrusive  as  in  the  West,  perhaps  because  it  is  really 
less  painful.  Nor  did  even  the  interior  of  the  city 
seem  as  dirty  as  one  had  feared.  It  may  be  because  I 
looked  through  rose-colored  spectacles.  It  may  be 
because  none  are  so  blind  as  those  that  will  not  see. 
It  may  be  because  I  have  passed  through  so  complete 
an  apprenticeship  of  dirt  in  Whitechapel  that  I  am  no 
longer  impressionable.  Or  it  may  be,  and  I  think  this 
is  the  true  reason,  because  there  was  really  not  so  much 
dirt  to  be  seen.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  I 
reached  the  Holy  City  in  holiday  time,  when  half  the 
inhabitants,  for  there  are  about  twenty-three  thousand l 

1  There  are  thirty-one  Jewish  colonies  in  the  suburbs  of 
Jerusalem,  including  one  of  Bokhariots  and  two  of  Yemenites. 
Each  colony  consists  of  a  clump  of  fifty  to  a  hundred  little 
dwellings. 


46  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Jews  in  a  total  population  of  forty  thousand,  were  rest- 
ing from  their  labors  and  were  dressed  in  holiday  attire, 
and  they  and  their  houses  were  beautified  by  their 
holiday  wash. 

THE  JEWS  OF  JERUSALEM 

It  is  very  hard  to  picture  to  Europeans  the  actual 
state  of  our  brethren  in  Jerusalem.  The  various 
nationalities  there  together  constitute  a  mosaic,  which 
is  unparalleled  in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  except 
perhaps  in  London,  where,  however,  all  differences  are 
swamped  in  the  infinity  of  sameness  which  surrounds 
them.  In  Jerusalem  we  meet  European,  Asiatic,  and 
African  Jews.  Fez  and  Bokhara,  Yemen  and  Da- 
ghestan,  Tunis  and  Persia,  the  Atlas  and  the  Caucasus, 
all  have  their  representatives  in  the  religious  capital. 
To  all  Jews  the  Hebrew  language  is  a  lingua  franca, 
but  it  is  whispered  that  some  Israelite  subjects  of  his 
Ottoman  Majesty  know  a  secret  language  in  addition 
which  no  non-Jew  can  understand,  and  of  which  I  am 
equally  ignorant.  Perhaps  this  is  the  mysterious  lan- 
guage of  the  Druses,  those  extraordinary  Unitarians  of 
whom  Disraeli  gives  so  vivid  an  account  in  "  Tancred," 
when  he  describes  his  hero's  visit  to  Astarte,  the  lovely 
Queen  of  the  Ansarey.  There  are  about  seventy 
thousand  living  in  the  Lebanon  and  the  Hauran,  and 
there  is  also  a  colony  of  Druses  in  Safed.  Sylvestre  de 
Sacy  wrote  a  great  deal  about  them  in  1828,  and  a 
recent  paper  published  in  the  "  Journal  of  the  Palestine 
Exploration  Society  "  completes  our  very  scanty  in- 
formation on  the  subject.  To  this  day  the 
nature  of  their  language  remains  one  of  the  unsolved 
problems  of  philology.  They  guard  their  manu- 


JERUSALEM  47 

scripts  so  jealously  that  they  are  enjoined  to  kill  any 
stranger  found  in  possession  of  their  sacred  writings. 
It  may  well  be  that  their  language  has  been  introduced 
into  Jewry  by  Jews  hailing  from  the  Lebanon.  Any- 
how, the  Jews  have  always  had  a  certain  amount  of 
intercourse  with  them.  They  were  known  to  and 
described  by  Benjamin  of  Tudela.  Dr.  Loewe,  whose 
loss  was  so. deeply  deplored,  knew  as  much  about  them 
as  any  one.  He  fell  into  their  hands  in  1838  when  they 
invaded  Palestine  proper,  and  inflicted  much  suffering 
on  the  Jews  of  Safed  and  Tiberias.  A  Palestinian 
Leland  is  required  to  throw  light  upon  their  secret 
speech.  But  the  staple  dialects  of  our  co-religionists 
continue  to  be  the  Judaso-Spanish  and  Jiidisch-Deutsch 
jargons  according  as  their  talkers  are  Sephardim  or 
Ashkenazim. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  guilty  of  statistics, — at  any  rate 
more  than  I  can  help, — and  I  hope  I  shall  be  forgiven  if 
the  description  of  my  impressions  is  as  hazy  as  my 
diction  is  slipshod.  I  am  writing  these  notes  discur- 
sively and  disjointedly  from  my  only  too  dim  recol- 
lections of  my  scamper  through  the  East,  and  almost 
the  only  written  material  at  my  disposal  are  the  letters 
I  sent  home  during  the  journey.  It  is  true  that  I 
jotted  down  in  a  note-book  some  facts  and  figures  as 
I  went  on,  but  I  was- unlucky  enough  to  trust  the  book 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  my  dragoman  one  night,  as  we 
cantered  down  the  mountains  and  through  the  ravines 
to  Jericho.  He  placed  it  with  other  articles  of  mine — 
mostly  requisites  of  toilet — in  a  saddle-bag,  but  when 
daylight  appeared,  the  saddle-bag  had  vanished.  The 
Bedouins  are  perhaps  the  richer  for  my  soap  and 
brushes,  as  well  as  for  my  notes,  and  will  doubtless 


48  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

have,  by  this  time,  thoroughly  tested  the  mysterious 
properties  of  those  extraordinary  adjuncts  of  civiliza- 
tion. I  hope  they  have  found  them  useful,  and  that  the 
soap  agreed  with  their — digestion.  In  modern — too 
modern — Jerusalem,  I  found  no  difficulty  in  replacing 
the  brushes  and  the  soap.  I  still  hold,  as  a  curiosity,  the 
receipted  bill  for  the  same,  written  in  pure  Hebrew, 
and,  after  a  prolonged  use  of  them,  am  able  to  vouch 
that  I  got  good  value  for  my  money.  But  as  to  my 
note-book,  I  live  in  fear  and  trembling  that  some 
Bedouin,  more  knowing  than  his  fellows,  may  put  it 
to  ransom,  and  that  it  may  fall  into  the  hands  of  some 
Jerusalemite  who  can  interpret  my  scrawl,  and  may 
find  a  few  of  my  hasty  criticisms  more  candid  than 
complimentary.  However,  I  myself  must  do  the  best 
I  can  without  it,  and  be  content  with  the  supplemen- 
tary information  I  was  able  to  glean. 

RUSSIAN  JEWS  IN  PALESTINE 

Jerusalem  is  the  only  place  in  the  Orient  where 
Yiddish  is  spoken  to  any  extent.  Nowhere  else,  either 
in  Syria  or  Egypt,  Asia  Minor  or  Turkey,  did  I  come 
across  a  single  individual  who  spoke  a  word  of  it. 
It  is  true  that,  on  board  the  postboat  from  Ismailiya  to 
Port  Said,  I  met  a  young  apothecary  whose  German 
was  of  that  complexion.  He  called  himself  a  Vien- 
nese, but  he  hailed  from  Galicia  originally  and  since 
from  Jerusalem,  to  which  city  he  was  then  returning. 
He  did  not  impress  me  very  favorably,  for  he  made  me 
think  him  a  Pharisee  of  Pharisees.  It  was  one  of  the 
intermediate  days  of  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  and  he 
was  professing  the  most  scrupulous  orthodoxy  and 
bemoaning  that  the  exigencies  of  travel  prevented  his 


JERUSALEM  49 

using  a  Lulab  and  Ethrog.  I  offered  him  mine,  but 
he  declined  to  make  the  blessing  over  them,  protesting 
that  he  had  never  yet  made  use  of  such  bad  ones. 
They  had  cost  me  a  lot  of  money,  and  I  felt  the  snub 
keenly!  Afterwards  I  came  across  the  man  again. 
He  looked  me  up  in  Jerusalem  (he  got  there  four  days 
after  I  did),  and  solicited  my  good  offices  to  get  him 
admitted  a  student  of  the  Lionel  de  Rothschild  Tech- 
nical School,  of  which  more  anon.  I  did  not  feel  par- 
ticularly beholden  to  him,  but  I  can  soothe  my  ruffled 
feelings  by  the  reflection  that  I  put  no  spoke  in  his 
wheel.  Through  the  kindness  of  that  excellent  friend, 
M.  Nissim  Behar,  he  is  now  sawing  wood  instead  of 
bones,  or  perhaps  carving  boxes  instead  of  washing 
bottles. 

Probably  at  least  ten  thousand  Jews  and  Jewesses 
speak  the  Jiidisch-Deutsch  dialect  in  Jerusalem,  so 
that  I  felt  quite  at  home,  and,  but  for  the  clearness 
of  the  atmosphere,  the  narrow,  vaulted  streets,  low 
houses  with  wooden  gratings  instead  of  windows, 
quaint  costumes,  and  other  local  colorings,  might  well 
have  thought  myself  in  the  East  of  London  or  some 
other  Polish  quarter.  Half  of  the  Jews  and  there- 
fore more  than  a  fourth  of  the  entire  population  are 
Russians  by  birth  or  parentage,  and  have  managed  to 
impress  their  individuality  very  decidedly  upon  their 
environment.  At  the  time  of  the  Crimean  War  under 
Czar  Nicholas,  great  changes  arose  in  the  official  treat- 
ment of  the  Jews  of  Russia.  They  did  good  service 
as  soldiers,  and  it  was  the  Government's  desire  to  as- 
similate them  to  the  rest  of  the  population.  There  was 
nothing  Machiavellian  about  the  wish  at  first,  though 
it  has  since  operated  cruel  wrong  and  hardship  and 


50  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

malignant  injustice.  Many  Jews  sooner  than  give  up 
— as  Nicholas  desired  them  to  do — their  ancient  cos- 
tume, which  was  a  custom  to  them  more  hallowed 
almost  than  religion,  migrated  to  the  Holy  Land. 
So  it  happens  that  the  Russian  immigrants  retain 
in  Palestine  the  fur-lined  caps  which  have  survived 
in  Russia  as  fittest  to  counteract  the  icy  blasts 
of  the  steppes.  They  looked  very  much  out  of 
place  in  Jerusalem,  but,  curiously  enough,  their 
wearers  did  not  seem  to  find  them  insupportable  in  the 
tropical  heat.  It  was  very  amusing  to  see  my  Polish  co- 
religionists, old  and  young, — and  the  little  boys  looked 
particularly  comical, — wearing  flat  circular  birettas  of 
black  velvet  or  velveteen,  trimmed  all  round  with  fur, 
and,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  like  a  large  and  greasy 
plate  with  a  broad  brown-yellow  rim.  Underneath  this 
extraordinary  covering,  which,  I  am  told,  is  the  com- 
mon head-dress  of  the  Russian  Moujik,  nestle  the 
shaggy  locks  and  beard  of  the  wearers,  whose  Peoth, 
or  corkscrew  kiss-curls,  hanging  over  each  temple,  give 
them  a  most  characteristic  appearance.  From  the  neck 
downward  they  are  ordinary  Arabs,  but  their  Tartar 
physique  proves  them  to  be  Poles  apart  from  the  true 
natives  of  their  adopted  land. 

A  CHASSIDISH  DANCE 

I  never  saw  a  Jew  in  Jerusalem  without  his  hat  on 
but  once,  and  it  happened  thus.  On  Simchath  Torah 
eve,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  famous  Rabbi  Judah  Leib 
Diskin.  As  I  entered,  I  found  the  Rabbi  sitting  in 
an  armchair,  gazing  contemplatively  into  space.  Some 
of  the  young  men  of  the  Yeshibah  were  dancing 
around  the  room  in  rollicking  fun,  each  a  pas  scul, 


JERUSALEM  51 

and  one  of  them,  with  true  Oriental  hospi- 
tality, thought  he  would  honor  and  gratify  me  by 
exchanging  his  head-covering  for  mine.  True,  mine 
was  a  somewhat  battered  straw-hat  and  his  a  crown  of 
fur,  but  all  the  same  I  felt  rueful  and  alarmed  when  he 
crowned  me,  and  I  am  afraid  my  greetings  lost  in 
dignity  and  impressiveness.  In  fact,  I  felt  somewhat 
like  Gulliver  among  the  Brobdingnagians,  when  the 
monkeys  patronized  him.  The  style  of  rejoicing  was 
none  the  less  of  great  interest.  The  tune  to  which 
they  danced,  and  which  in  other  Chassidish  Chevras 
was  evidently  the  favorite,  made  a  deep  impression  at 
the  time.  A  musical  friend,  the  Rev.  Francis  Cohen, 
has  been  good  enough  to  transcribe  my  now  half-faded 
recollections  of  the  Chassidish  howl.  He  says  that  the 
harmonization  is  not  very  classical,  but  "  rather  like  a 
Chassid's  nightmare  after  a  heavy  supper  off  Beet- 
hoven." Mr.  Cohen's  rendering  follows  on  the  next 
page. 

I  will  not  be  answerable  for  the  consequences,  if 
any  fair  friend  attempts  to  translate  the  notes  into 
music,  vocal  or  instrumental.  The  tune  is,  I  daresay, 
to  be  heard  in  Chassidish  communities  a  thousand  miles 
north  of  Jerusalem,  but  there  it  was  evidently  the 
favorite  of — well — melodies.  Of  course,  one  of  the 
most  striking  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  Holy  City  is 
the  total  absence  of  opportunities  for  amusement,  as 
a  young  English  resident  pathetically  complained  to 
me.  Perhaps  with  the  assistance  of  M.  Nissim  Behar's 
talented  wife,  an  occasional  concert  in  her  drawing- 
room  will  in  the  future  be  allowed  to  relieve  the  gloom, 
and  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  the  next  English  trav- 
eller who  follows  my  good  example  and  pays  the 
Jerusalemites  a  visit  has  his  ears  greeted  by  the 


JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 


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JERUSALEM  53 

familiar  strains  of  "  Dorothy  "  or  Sullivan's  incidental 
music  to  "  Macbeth." 

THE  REJOICING  OF  THE  LAW 

If  the  tune  of  the  Chassidim  is  funny,  the  manner  in 
which  they  make  the  Hakafoth,  or  circuits  of  the 
synagogue,  during  the  Rejoicing  of  the  Law,  is  funnier 
still.  Each  bearer  of  a  scroll  is  surrounded  by  three  or 
four  men  who  dance  slowly,  but  with  evident  gusto 
and  superabundant  gesticulation,  der  Rollc  treu,  mil 
lacherlichcm  Ernst.  It  was  comical  and  shocking  to 
see  venerable  graybeards  pirouetting  on  their  toes  like 
some  European  fairy  of  the  pantomime,  but  it  was 
highly  appreciated,  and  I  had  to  simulate  satisfaction 
for  fear  of  being  rebuked,  as  Michal  was  when  she 
objected  to  King  David's  "  dancing  with  all  his  might." 

A  very  good  illustration  of  the  esteem  in  which  this 
religious  dancing  is  held  is  furnished  by  a  story  related 
of  the  Kabbalist  Isaac  Luria,  in  the  Rodelheim  edition 
of  the  Maase  Buck  published  in  1753,  and  quoted 
by  Dr.  Max  Griinbaum  in  his  Judisch-deutsche 
Chrestomathie.  It  is  related  that  one  Sabbath  morn- 
ing R.  Isaac  told  his  disciples  that  he  would  show  them 
something  very  extraordinary  if  they  promised  not  to 
laugh,  and  he  warned  them  that  whoever  broke  his 
promise  would  die  within  the  year.  They  give  the  re- 
quired assurances,  and  the  wonder-worker  conjures  up, 
from  among  the  spirits  of  the  vasty  deep,  seven  ghosts, 
whom  he  calls  up  to  the  reading  of  the  Law.  Their  pro- 
totypes in  the  flesh  are  no  less  personages  than  Aaron 
the  high  priest  as  Cohen,  Moses  his  brother  as 
Lcvite,  and  as  ordinary  Israelites,  the  patriarchs  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Joseph.  The  seventh  and  last 


54  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

to  be  called  up  is  King  David,  and  he  comes  forward 
jumping  and  dancing  in  honor  of  the  Law.  One 
hapless  Talmid  involuntarily  bursts  out  laughing,  and, 
of  course,  dies  that  selfsame  year.  But  the  Rabbi 
himself  does  not  escape  scathless,  and  the  very  next 
story  relates  how  he,  too,  dies  soon  after,  by  way  of 
penalty  for  being  too  yielding  to  his  pupils'  idle 
curiosity,  and  too  ready  to  prostitute  to  an  unworthy 
love  of  ostentation  that  talent  which  it  was  death  to 
discover,  and  with  which  he  was  endowed  for  higher 
purposes. 

The  late  Mr.  F.  D.  Mocatta,  himself  a  great  traveller, 
reminded  me  that  a  custom  not  very  unlike  the  Chas- 
sid's  celebration  of  Simchath  Torah  prevails  among  the 
devout  Catholics  of  Seville.  During  carnival,  and  also 
in  June  and  October,  a  solemn  Dancing  Mass  is  cele- 
brated in  the  cathedral  of  that  lovely  city.  The  offici- 
ating sixteen  boys  ("  seises  ")  dance  in  front  of  the 
high  altar,  with  plumed  hats  on  their  heads,  and  dressed 
as  pages  of  the  time  of  Philip  III.  They  wear  red  and 
white  for  Corpus  Christi,  blue  and  white  for  the  festi- 
vals of  the  Virgin.  The  dance  is  supposed  to  imitate 
that  of  the  Israelites  before  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 
One  of  the  popes,  more  ascetic  than  his  predecessors, 
objected  to  thus  exposing  the  mysteries  of  the  Mass  to 
unseemly  revelry,  and  sought  to  abolish  the  custom,  but 
the  force  of  public  opinion  was  stronger  than  the  Head 
of  the  Church,  and  the  Dancing  Mass  at  Seville  is  a 
solemn  institution  to  this  very  day. 

There  was  dancing  that  night  throughout  Jewry  in 
Jerusalem,  and  the  nicest  part  of  the  performance  was 
to  see  the  mothers  standing  quietly  inside  the  doors  of 
the  synagogue,  or  Chevra,  with  their  little  children, 


JERUSALEM  55 

who  clapped  their  hands  and  ran  up  to  kiss  the  Scrolls 
as  they  passed,  and  altogether  seemed  in  the  sev- 
enth heaven  of  delight.  In  the  great  synagogues  of  the 
Sephardim  and  Ashkenazim,  the  ceremony  was  grander 
and  more  decorous.  All  the  candles  were  lit,  and, 
experto  crede,  dripped  exceedingly.  Twenty  or 
thirty  Scrolls  were  taken  out  of  the  Ark  and  carried 
round  the  Almemar.  There  is  an  immense  number  of 
Scrolls  in  Jerusalem,  for  the  residents  are  still  as 
famous  for  their  calligraphy  as  they  have  been  for 
centuries,  and  their  work  is  cheap.  Every  elder  of  the 
synagogue  who  was  honored  with  one  seemed  to  be  a 
Morenu,  or  ordained  Rabbi,  and  their  bright  robes  and 
cheerful  faces  showed  that,  as  Heine  sings  of  the 
Shabbas,  on  that  day  each  thought  himself  as  happy 
as  a  king,  forgetful  of  the  squalor  and  poverty  and 
pain  of  the  everyday  life  outside.  Many  of  the  little 
boys  waved  flags  of  red,  blue,  white,  or  yellow  silk  or 
stuff.  On  one  side  of  these  banners  were  printed  the 
verses  sung  during  the  Hakafoth  (  NJ  njrtyin  'n  KJK 
etc.),  and  on  the  other  the  arms  of  Sir  Moses  Monte- 
fiore,  the  champion  of  Jerusalem,  were  fully  embla- 
zoned with  their  supporters,  a  lion  and  unicorn  ram- 
pant, and,  on  a  scroll,  his  motto,  "  Jerusalem." 

THE  BRITZKER  RAV  AT  JERUSALEM 

Rabbi  Jiulah  Leib  Diskin,  at  whose  house  I  saw  the 
Chassidish  dance,  cannot  be  dismissed  with  the  above 
incidental  mention.  The  JcLeD  (child),  as  he  was 
acrostically  called,  was,  indeed,  the  child  of  his  time 
and  environment. 

Born  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  which  in  a 
more  western  city  produced  a  Heine,  the  Lithuanian 


56  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

lad  was  regarded  by  his  Chassidish  entourage  as  hardly 
less  marvellous  a  genius.  His  aspirations  could 
not  be  confined  within  the  mud  walls  of  a  Russian  vil- 
lage. The  "  Litvak,"  as  the  Lithuanian  is  sometimes 
in  affection,  more  often  contemptuously,  called,  is  a 
very  curious  type  of  Jew,  but  the  Litvak  Chassid  is 
more  curious  and  still  more  redoubtable.  There  has 
always  been  a  mystic  bent  in  the  Jewish  mind,  and  to 
this,  as  Dr.  Schechter  has  shown,  Chassidism  gives  full 
scope.  It  is  a  joyful  and  emotional  sort  of  religion — 
not  that  which  appeals  to  the  cold  intellect  of  the  Porch, 
or  even  to  the  more  excitable  reasoning  powers  of  the 
Forum.  But  that  it  has  "  caught  on  "  need  surprise  no 
one  who  has  watched  the  gigantic  march  of  the  Salva- 
tion Army. 

Diskin  soon  received  a  call  to  Brest-Litovsk,  where 
he  became  the  head  and  centre  of  the  important  Jewish 
community  there — all  Misnagdim  and  pious,  more 
or  less.  Nowadays  Brest  is  an  important  railway 
junction  and  military  garrison,  but  in  his  days  it  was 
rather  "  the  mother  city  in  Israel  "  than  a  commercial 
or  political  entity.  The  "  Britzker  Rav,"  however, 
soon  became  a  well-known  figure  throughout  the  Rus- 
sian and  Polish  Jewries,  and,  though  his  geographical 
connection  with  Britzk  (the  Polish  name  for  Brest) 
ceased  nearly  half  a  century  ago,  it  is  as  the 
"  Britzker  Rav  "  that  he  has  been  proudly  designated 
and  revered  to  an  almost  sacrilegious  point  in  Jeru- 
salem itself. 

When  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  made  his  first  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem  there  were  only  two  hundred  and 
fifty  Jews  there.  But  their  number  rapidly  increased 
to  many  thousands.  And  as  soon  as  there  was  a  Lit- 


JERUSALEM  57 

vak  congregation  there  worthy  of  him,  they  sent  for 
Diskin,  and  he  became  their  Rabbi.  His  reputation 
was  ever  greater  than  his  performance.  Yet  this  by 
no  means  implies  that  he  did  not  amply  deserve  his 
reputation  for  sanctity  of  life  and  Talmudical  insight. 
But  so  far  as  I  can  find  he  never  wrote  a  book. 
Steinschneider  and  Lippe,  Zedner  and  Van  Straalen  are 
silent  in  his  regard.  Book-making  he  left  to  his 
enemies. 

Out  of  good  old-fashioned  courtesy  to  my  father's 
son,  he  had  sent  me  by  way  of  welcome  a  gift  of  cakes 
and  wine.  I  went  to  thank  him,  and  found  him  seated 
in  a  long  fur  robe,  with  velvet  biretta  trimmed  with 
fur,  whilst  round  and  round  the  room,  as  above  related, 
there  danced  the  students  of  his  Yeshibah,  a  curious 
mixture  of  the  Howling  Dervish  and  German  Uni- 
versity student.  But  the  old  Rabbi,  with  the  piercing 
eyes,  beamed  at  them  indulgently,  and  beamed  at  me, 
with  perhaps  a  little  more  indulgence  for  that  I  would 
not,  or  could  not,  join  in  their  gyrations,  or  voice  their 
melodies. 

Throughout  his  long  pilgrimage  in  Jerusalem,  and, 
indeed,  almost  to  the  end,  the  Britzker  Rav  held  reli- 
giously aloof  from  all  controversial  matters  or  the  war 
of  communal  politics,  only  too  prevalent  in  Jerusalem. 
It  was  his  boast  that  he  never  put  pen  to  paper  nor 
worried  about  worldly  things — he  had  come  to  the  Holy 
Land  to  die  there.  His  wife  was,  perhaps,  a  little 
less  old-world  in  her  notions.  She  is  the  most  dis- 
tinguished lady  in  Jerusalem.  She  can  Pasken,  I  was 
told,  as  well  as  any  Rav,  writes  Hebrew  in  classical 
style,  and  talks  a  little  less  classical,  but  quite  as  in- 
telligible French. 


58  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Diskin's  abstention  from  controversy  is,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  quite  unparalleled  in  Jerusalem,  and  speaks  vol- 
umes in  favor  of  his  wisdom  and  good  nature.  Yet, 
even  his  aloofness  was  not  quite  to  the  end. 

The  Russian  immigrants  into  Palestine  had  started 
the  first  of  the  Kolelim  (literally,  universities),  and 
initiated  the  mischievous  system  of  Chalukah.  The 
stay-at-homes  remained  in  close  intercourse  with  their 
more  enterprising  brethren  abroad,  and  by  way  of 
atonement  for  their  modernity  in  yielding  to  the  Czar's 
reforms,  sent  moneys,  city  by  city,  to  each  of  the  cities 
of  the  "university,"  and  these  were  distributed  amongst 
the  students  of  Talmud  and  Torah.  The  principle  is, 
of  course,  liable  to  abuse,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  it  is  the  same  system  as  supported  learning  and 
kept  it  alive  in  Paris  and  in  Oxford,  in  Cordova 
and  Padua  in  mediaeval  times. 

The  course  of  Russian  persecution  had  not 
abated  since  Diskin  had  left  home,  and  emigration 
had  not  ceased.  But  it  had  taken  a  new  direction,  and 
had  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  American  Russians  or 
Russian  Americans  had  now  become  almost  as  numer- 
ous as  their  brothers  at  home  in  Russia,  and  not  less 
charitable.  American  contributions  to  Chalukah  had 
become  very  large  and  important,  and  yet  by  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Kolelim  could  not  be  diverted  from 
the  cities  of  original  origin.  And  so  a  miniature  little 
American  revolution  took  place  in  1897  in  Jerusalem, 
a  Kolel  America  was  formed,  and  the  Britzker 
Rav  consented  to  be  nominated  as  its  head.  I  fear 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  ill-feeling  aroused.  The 
nonagenarian  Chief  Rabbi  Samuel  Salant  felt  hurt, 


JERUSALEM  59 

and,  indeed,  was  said  to  contemplate  the  resignation 
of  his  office. 

But  the  Jeled's  intervention,  though  it  was  probably 
impersonal,  seems  a  pity.  It  strikes  a  discordant  note 
in  the  harmony  of  a  whole  and  peaceful  life. 

THE  ROTHSCHILD  SCHOOL  IN  1888 

During  my  stay  in  Jerusalem,  not  a  day  passed  but 
I  paid  my  friend  M.  Nissim  Behar  a  visit  in  the  large 
and  commodious  premises  of  the  Baron  Lionel  de 
Rothschild  School,  which  immediately  adjoins  the 
Hotel  Jerusalem.  Despite  the  comfort  of  my  bed,  I 
was  awakened  almost  every  morning  by  the  sounds 
of  activity  raised  by  M.  Behar's  little — and  big — 
scholars.  Altogether  Jerusalem  is  a  very  early  place. 
Everybody  is  up  betimes,  and  morning  prayers — in- 
cluding the  Duchan,  which  in  the  Holy  City  is  an  every- 
day institution — are  always  over  long  before  seven. 
Everybody  goes  to  synagogue  in  Jerusalem,  and  man- 
ages to  do  so  without  encroaching  on  his  task-master's 
time.  It  is  the  greatest  mistake  in  the  world  to  think 
that  our  co-religionists  there  are  idle  and  do  no  work, 
and  that  the  Chalukah  makes  them  rentiers  and  gen- 
tlemen at  ease.  Later  on  I  shall  take  an  oppor- 
tunity to  say  something  about  Jewish  trades  and  trades- 
people, and  also  briefly  explain  the  Chalukah  system, 
and  show  that  the  ten  francs  per  annum  a  house-father 
obtains  under  it  is  not  so  very  demoralizing  and 
pernicious  after  all.  At  present,  I  propose  to  tell  about 
the  Rothschild  School,  not  so  much  because  from  the 
theoretical  point  of  view  it  is  the  best.  The  German 
Orphan  Asylum,  managed  by  the  estimable  Dr.  Herz- 
berg,  in  this  respect  runs  it  very  close.  And  the  130  TO 


60  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

("Book-Houses"),  or  Talmud  Torah  Schools,  within 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  are  also  in  many  respects  most 
creditable.  But  it  is  in  regard  to  the  technical  instruc- 
tion it  imparts  and  its  Director's  practical  energy  that  it 
is  altogether  unique.  For  English  Jews,  it  has  the 
additional  interest  that  it  was  founded  by  Englishmen — 
Lord  Rothschild  and  Samuel  Montagu — and  that  it  is 
mainly  supported  by  English  funds.  The  Anglo-Jew- 
ish Association  gives,  it  an  annual  subvention,  and  so 
does  the  Alliance  Israelite  Universelle  in  Paris,  but,  of 
course,  the  bulk  of  the  cost  is  defrayed  by  its  own 
Committee,  the  headquarters  of  which  are  at  New 
Court. 

The  rather  cumbrous  title  of  the  school  is  as  follows : 
"  Institution  Israelite  pour  ITnstruction  et  le  Travail : 
Fondation,  Lionel  de  Rothschild,"  but  its  lengthy  name 
has  not  stood  in  the  way  of  its  material  prosperity. 
Recent  advices  from  the  East  inform  me  that  the 
school  has  been  permitted  to  acquire  for  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  the  site  of  the  hotel.  Mr.  Kaminitz 
will  move  nearer  the  Jaffa  Gate,  and  his  guests  will  no 
longer  have  to  use  the  omnibus  when  they  wish  to  go 
to  the  city,  nor  be  disturbed  by  their  industrious  but 
noisy  neighbors,  nor  annoyed  by  the  familiar,  though 
disagreeable,  sound  of  the  engine.  It  is  hard  to  picture 
to  one's  self  omnibuses  and  steam  engines  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  yet  they  are  prosaic  realities  introduced  by 
our  enterprising  brethren,  and  important  factors  in  the 
Jerusalem  of  to-day. 

M.  Behar  has  nearly  two  hundred  pupils,  of 
whom  a  third  board  at  the  establishment.  There  are 
nearly  twice  as  many  Sephardim  as  Ashkenazim.  I 
was  a  little  sorry  to  see  this,  although  I  feel  sure  of  the 


JERUSALEM  61 

absence  of  any  conscious  favoritism.  There  are  more 
Ashkenazim  in  Jerusalem  than  their  bluer-blooded  co- 
religionists, and,  although  they  may  be  less  desirable 
in  some  respects,  I  can  vouch  for  their  being  quite  as 
eager  to  become  pupils.  It  was  quite  a  sight  to  see 
how  M.  Behar,  whenever  he  walked  abroad,  was 
bombarded  with  applications  for  admission  to  his 
school. 

Prayers  were  always  read  by  the  Minyan  at  half- 
past  five  in  the  morning,  and  within  an  hour  from  that 
time  the  classes  were  all  busy,  and  the  workshops  alive 
with  the  blows  of  the  hammers,  and  the  creaking  of  the 
saws,  and  the  puffing  of  the  engine.  One  can  hardly 
avoid  being  guilty  of  rhapsody,  when  describing  the 
effect  produced  upon  a  Western  mind  by  the  appear- 
ance of  Western  activity  where  expectation  had  pic- 
tured to  itself  Oriental  indolence  cultivating  begging 
as  a  fine  art.  Even  in  Europe  an  institution  like  the 
Rothschild  School  would  extort  admiration.  It  is 
more  an  Academy  or  University  than  a  school  in  the 
narrower  sense  of  the  word,  and  its  pupils  hail  from  all 
parts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Syria,  and  some  come  even 
from  Egypt. 

LANGUAGES 

The  curriculum  is  extensive,  but  so  far  as  one  could 
judge  not  so  wide  as  to  prevent  the  instruction  given 
from  being  quite  as  thorough  as  desirable.  Hebrew, 
Arabic,  and  French  are  the  languages  chiefly  taught, 
and  the  pupils  are  permitted  to  converse  in  any  of  these, 
but  Jargon,  whether  Jiidisch-Deutsch  or  Judseo- 
Spanish,  is  strictly  forbidden.  English  is  also  taught, 
and,  as  I  understand,  by  the  express  desire  of  the 


62  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

parents,  including  amongst  others  no  less  a  personage 
than  his  Excellency  the  Pasha.  English-speaking  trav- 
ellers still  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  moneyed  travellers 
to  the  Holy  Land,  and  therefore  English  has  a  practi- 
cal value.  But  in  this  respect  Jerusalem  is  certainly 
exceptional,  for  in  the  East — and  even  in  Egypt — 
French  remains  the  lingua  franca.  With  regard  to 
French,  I  can  only  say  that  I  have  never  seen  a  public 
school  boy  whose  accent  or  grammar  could  compare 
with  even  the  youngest  of  M.  Behar's  pupils.  Perhaps 
some  persons  who  know  may  think  this  only  faint 
praise  after  all.  And  as  to  Hebrew,  I  feel  sure  that  the 
average  European  Rabbi  would  be  put  to  the  blush  by 
these  little  scholars  of  Jerusalem,  whose  fluency  and 
elegance  of  diction  make  us  unable  to  realize  that 
Hebrew  is  not  a  living  language.  Mathematics  and 
the  rudiments  of  science  are  not  neglected,  and,  indeed, 
the  only  point  in  which  higher  education  in  Jerusalem 
differs  from  ours  is  that  we  indulge  our  penchant  for 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  they  do  not.  In  some  of  the 
Alliance  schools  in  Asia  Minor,  Smyrna,  for  instance, 
even  this  qualification  does  not  apply,  so  far,  at  least, 
as  Greek  is  concerned. 

THE  WORKSHOPS 

The  workshops  were  highly  satisfactory.  The 
Mechanical  Engineering  Department,  under  Mr.  Price, 
an  able  young  mechanician,  who  was  sent  out  to 
Jerusalem  by  the  Anglo-Jewish  Association,  looked 
particularly  business-like.  It  seemed  a  little  strange 
that  the  engine  was  fed  by  olive  wood  as  fuel.  The 
woodwork  and  carving  were  also  interesting,  the  arti- 
sans showing  great  zeal,  and  seeming  to  glory  in  their 


JERUSALEM  63 

work.  The  tailoring  and  bootmaking  shops  were  also 
busily  employed.  What  most  struck  me,  was  the  fact 
that  the  technical  classes  were  not  merely,  as  in  the 
People's  Palace  for  instance,  for  the  purposes  of  educa- 
tion. They  were  also  to  a  great  extent  self-supporting, 
and  were  largely  patronized  by  the  inhabitants  of  Jeru- 
salem. Indeed,  complaints  were  made  to  me  by  a 
deputation  of  artisans  in  the  city  that  they  were  being 
undersold  by  the  school.  I  investigated  the  matter, 
and  found  that,  so  far  from  this  being  the  fact,  the 
school  really  exacted  and  obtained  higher  than  the 
average  price  for  its  work.  I  saw  iron  bedsteads  being 
manufactured,  wheels  of  carts  mended,  the  familiar 
olive-wood  curiosities  being  turned,  and  boots  and 
clothes  being  made,  all  to  order  and  for  remunerative 
prices.  With  regard  to  the  latter  trades,  it  should  be 
observed  that  they  are  not  open  to  the  same  objections 
as  in  England.  Jerusalem  has  practically  no  export 
trade,  and  its  artisans  must  therefore  supply  home 
wants.  The  population  is  increasing,  and  there  is 
already  a  fair  field  for  the  employment  of  all  those  who 
are  being  trained. 

The  classes  most  particularly  interesting  were  those 
for  drawing  and  sculpture — the  latter  recently  endowed 
by  Baron  Edmond  de  Rothschild,  whose  visit  to  Pales- 
tine, with  the  Baroness,  last  year  was  epoch-making. 
Here  one  saw  work  which  evinced  a  large  amount  of 
talent  and  creative  skill — work  which  would  not  have 
disgraced  South  Kensington.  Among  the  most  artistic 
workers  in  stone  were  some  Russian  refugees,  of  whom 
there  are  several  in  the  school.  Two  of  these  pupils, 
Berschawsky  and  Lemberg,  I  found  hard  at  work  in 
the  city,  in  the  Via  Dolorosa,  carving  the  corbels  of  the 


64  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Russian  Convent  buildings,  which  were  soon  to  be 
opened  by  the  Archdukes  Paul  and  Sergius.  It  seemed 
grim  irony  of  fate  that  the  authorities  of  the  Greek 
Church,  despite  their  known  anti-Semitic  prejudices, 
should  have  been  forced  to  call  in  the  aid  of  the  very 
men  whom  persecution  had  compelled  to  flee  from  the 
dominions  of  the  Princes'  brother,  but  who  were  the 
only  persons  in  Jerusalem  who  could  do  artistic  work 
of  the  character  required.  Happily  other  and  more 
merciful  counsels  now  prevail,  and  the  Governors  of 
the  various  Russian  Provinces  have  received  written 
instructions  from  St.  Petersburg  to  stay  their  hand. 

THE  PUPILS 

With  regard  to  the  locale  of  the  School,  it  is  essen- 
tially the  right  thing  in  the  right  place.  On  the  Jaffa 
Road,  about  ten  or  twelve  minutes'  walk  from  the  Gate, 
it  is  the  first  conspicuous  building  passed  by  every  pil- 
grim to  the  Holy  City.  It  is  not  too  far  from  the  city 
to  prevent  the  young  inhabitants  from  availing  them- 
selves of  its  advantages,  and,  so  far  as  I  could  ascertain, 
they  are  never  kept  by  distance  from  being  either 
punctual  or  regular.  Above  all,  it  is  in  the  centre  of 
the  new  Jerusalem  without  the  walls,  which  is  rapidly 
springing  up,  and  which  relieves  the  pressure  within. 
There  are  already  about  eight  or  nine  thousand 
suburban  inhabitants.  The  pupils  are  of  various  ages 
and  various  sects  of  religious  thought,  and,  to  my  mind, 
nothing  will  serve  better  than  this  mixture  to  remove 
the  bitterness  of  the  odium  theologicum,  which  is  so 
unwelcome  a  feature  in  the  Holy  City.  As  in  the  great 
Universities  of  the  middle  ages,  there  are  fathers  of 
families  there  who  think  it  no  disgrace  to  join  the 


JERUSALEM  65 

classes.  Thus,  a  staid  notary  of  Islam,  before  whom  I 
had  one  afternoon  to  appear  in  the  Serail  to  get  him  to 
legalize  a  power  of  attorney,  I  found  next  morning 
seated  on  the  school-boy's  bench  learning  French.  Of 
course,  the  large  majority — especially  in  the  theoretical 
classes — are  young.  Among  them  is  Osman  Bey,  the 
son  of  Reouf  Pasha,  the  Governor  of  Palestine.  His 


TYPES  OF  JEWISH    SCHOOL  CHILDREN 

standard  of  cultivation  may  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that 
he  plays  Madame  Behar's  piano  and  is  an  enthusiastic 
collector  of  coins.  He  was  delighted  with  the  gift  of 
a  Roman  sesterce  I  had  picked  up  near  the  Step  Pyra- 
mid of  Sakhara.  Sephardim  and  Ashkenazim  meet  on 
a  footing  of  complete  equality,  and  there  are  several 
Christian,  and  more  Mohammedan  pupils.  As  none 
of  the  Jews  are  in  a  position  to  pay,  M.  Behar  cannot 


66  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

exact  payment  from  the  non-Jews,  but  I  believe  some 
of  the  Christians  have  volunteered  payment.  Their 
number  is,  of  course,  relatively  very  small. 

When  in  Jerusalem  I  was  especially  struck  by  the 
cordial  relations  now  existing  between  the  Rabbis  and 
M.  Behar,  whose  conduct  has  converted  their  former 
distrust  into  confidence.  It  is  also  a  pleasing  feature 
in  the  schools  that  just  as  they  draw  their  material, 
not  only  from  Jerusalem,  but  also  from  Hebron  and  the 
Agricultural  Colonies,  so  their  scholars,  when  trained, 
do  not  all  remain  to  stagnate  there,  but  go  afield  to 
other  parts  of  Palestine,  to  Syria,  and  even  to  Egypt. 
The  school  premises  are  admirably  adapted  for  their 
purpose,  but  every  inch  of  space  is  occupied,  and  if,  as 
I  hope,  provision  will  be  made  eventually  for  the  board 
and  lodging  of  some  of  the  country  pupils,  the  pro- 
posed extension  will  have  become  necessary. 

THE  ORPHAN  SCHOOL  AND  OTHERS 

The  Waisenhaus,  or  Orphan  Asylum,  on  the  Jaffa 
Road,  directed  by  Dr.  Herzberg,  is  a  most  creditable 
institution.  It  is  the  only  Jewish  Boarding  School  in 
Jerusalem  and  is  thoroughly  well  managed.  I  was  sorry 
to  miss  Dr.  Herzberg,  who  was  in  Europe  at  the  time  of 
my  visit.  He  is  a  man  in  a  thousand,  as  his  writings 
testify,  and  one  whom  we  must  be  proud  to  call  our 
co-religionist.  His  wife  is  a  second  mother  to  the 
pupils,  and  they  evidently  love  her  dearly.  I  went  there 
on  Saturday,  so  did  not  find  them  at  their  studies,  but 
the  bedrooms  were  nice  and  airy,  with  whitewashed 
walls  and  ceiling,  and  not  crowded  like  the  dormitories 
of  our  own  public  schools.  In  general,  one  cannot 
give  a  very  good  account  of  the  climate  of  Jerusalem. 


JERUSALEM  67 

But  that,  as  I  shall  show  later,  its  shortcomings  are 
remediable  appears  from  the  fact  that,  except  in  the 
rainy  season,  the  teacher,  Mr.  Cohen,  who  was  trained 
at  Jews'  College  (London),  and  therefore  acclimatized 
in  this  country,  manages  to  sleep  in  the  open  air  on 
the  leads  outside  one  of  the  rooms.  The  pupils  learn 
English,  German,  and  Arabic,  but  no  French.  This 
seems  a  pity,  for,  although  French  may  not  be  indis- 
pensable, German  is  quite  useless. 

An  evening  school  for  the  young  artisans  of  Jerusa- 
lem has  just  been  started  in  Jerusalem  in  connection 
with  Dr.  Herzberg's  school,  and  it  is  very  successful. 

The  Blumenthal  School  accommodates  about  a  hun- 
dred pupils.  It  is  directed  by  Rabbi  Isaac  Prager,  and 
of  his  pupils'  Hebrew  and  Arabic  calligraphy  I  carried 
away  some  lovely  specimens.  I  can  only  just  refer  to 
the  Sephardi  and  Ashkenazi  Talmud  Torah  Schools, 
each  with  its  three  hundred  pupils.  The  latter  is  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Chief  Rabbi  Samuel  Salant,  who 
bears  his  years  lightly,  and  who  struck  me  as  particu- 
larly clever.  Here  I  found  the  only  trace  of  Pharisaism 
which  I  met  in  the  course  of  my  visit,  and  even  this 
was  of  the  mildest  possible  type.  We  came  to  a  class 
where  a  boy  was  translating,  or  rather  reciting  a  pas- 
sage out  of  pSn  pia  in  the  Treatise  Sanhedrin.  I  asked 
him  to  turn  over,  in  the  famous  introduction  by  Mai- 
monides,  to  that  chapter  in  which  he  deals  with  the 
various  theories  of  the  after-life.  The  teacher  hesitated 
and  elevated  his  eyebrows.  I  saw  that  he  did  not  feel 
satisfied  in  his  own  mind  as  to  the  orthodoxy  of  the 
Rambam's  philosophy,  and,  snubbed,  I  withdrew. 

Besides  these,  there  are  many  Talmud  Torah  and 
other  schools  for  Jewish  children  in  Jerusalem — over 


68  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

eighty  for  boys  and  about  twenty  for  girls.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Evelina  Rothschild  School  for  girls, 
none  of  these  are  intended  for  more  than  forty  pupils, 
and  most  have  not  even  half  that  number.  They  are  in 
fact  like  the  Chedarim  in  Whitechapel  or  any  other 
Ghetto,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  in  most  cases  their 
instruction  is  limited  to  parrot-like  reading  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  and  prayer  book. 

CLIMATE  AND  SANITATION 

The  awfully  sudden  death  of  the  Crown  Prince  Ru- 
dolph of  Austria  will  be  deeply  felt  by  our  Jewish 
brethren  in  Palestine.  He  visited  the  Holy  Land 
when  only  nineteen  years  old,  and  his  "  Journey  in  the 
East,"  published  in  1884,  bears  testimony  to  the  ex- 
treme interest  he  took  in  Jews,  and  the  cordial  good- 
will he  bore  them.  When  in  Jerusalem  he  was  present 
at  the  Seder  given  by  the  late  Chacham  Bashi, 
and  the  ceremony  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
him.  As  a  memento  of  the  hospitality  he  had 
enjoyed,  he  presented  the  venerable  Rabbi  with 
his  portrait  and  autograph,  and  the  picture  was  treas- 
ured by  him  as  one  of  his  dearest  possessions.  On 
board  ship  I  met  a  man,  now  in  the  employ  of  the 
Austrian  Consul  at  Beyrout,  who  had  accompanied  the 
Prince  as  Jagcr,  or  body-servant,  during  his  travels 
in  the  East.  He  told  me  many  a  story  of  his  Imperial 
master's  reverent  interest  in  the  holy  places,  and  of 
his  invariable  good  humor  in  difficulties  and  disagreea- 
bles. Although  so  active  a  sportsman,  he  suffered  in 
health  when  in  Palestine.  He  was  struck  down  by 
fever  while  on  his  way  to  Nazareth,  and  to  his  great 


JERUSALEM  69 

disappointment  was  obliged  to  embark  at  Haifa 
without  completing  his  programme. 

From  various  causes  the  death-rate  at  Jerusalem  is, 
to  European  notions,  abnormally  high.  It  is  not  by  any 
means  an  unhealthy  place  for  visitors,  far  less  so,  for 
instance,  than  Rome,  and  if  they  stay  outside  the  city 
walls  they  may  escape  even  the  mosquitoes. 

But  the  residents  are  great  sufferers  ;  hardly  anybody 
escapes  fever  once  or  twice  a  year ;  ophthalmia  is 
caused  by  the  glare  of  the  sun  against  the  white 
stone  walls,  and  the  chilly  mornings  and  evenings  are 
accountable  for  a  good  deal  of  rheumatism.  Even  the 
Talmud  refers  to  the  delicate  health  of  Jerusa- 
lemite  children  as  notorious,  and  it  would  appear  to  be 
still  worse  nowadays.  It  is  particularly  painful  to 
see  the  puny  and  wizened  babies,  and  boys,  and  girls, 
sharp  and  clever  but  looking  prematurely  old.  The 
offspring  of  too  early  marriages  is  always  sickly, 
but  the  chief  causes  of  the  ill-health  are  the  poorness 
of  the  water  supply  and  absence — or  rather  presence — 
of  drainage.  Both  defects  could  be  remedied  without 
much  difficulty. 

As  to  the  drainage,  the  cesspool  system  could,  one 
would  think,  be  easily  replaced  by  canalization.  The 
valleys  of  Jehoshaphat  and  Hinnom  ("Gehenna,"  the 
traditional  limbo  of  the  damned)  are  no  longer  so  deep 
as  they  used  to  be  in  the  days  of  yore.  The  numerous 
layers  of  debris  now  enable  one  standing  in  the  valley 
to  touch  with  an  umbrella  Robinson's  Arch,  the  start- 
ing point  of  the  famous  bridge  which  connected  the 
Temple  with  the  Mount  of  Olives.  And  yet  Josephus 
tells  us  that  the  depth  was  so  great  that  no  one  could 
stand  on  the  bridge  and  look  down  without  be- 


70  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

coming-  giddy  and  afraid.  Still  the  fall  from  the 
inhabited  heights  to  the  natural  moat  surrounding 
the  city  is  large  enough  to  be  of  use  for  drainage 
purposes.  The  Dung  Gate — ther\ir\3K/Kn  ^yw  — with  its 
now  blocked-up  cloaca,  leading  to  the  altar  in  the  Tem- 
ple courtyard,  is  sufficiently  near  to  show  that  such 
methods  of  sanitation  were  not  unknown  to  King 
Solomon  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  the  Turks 
have  much  to  do  to  make  up  for  the  ground  they  have 
lost  since  then. 

UNDERGROUND  JERUSALEM 

To  my  mind  the  most  wonderful  object  in  Palestine 
is  underground  Jerusalem.  This  is  formed  by  the 
•royal  quarries  cut  in  the  solid  sandstone  rock,  whence 
Solomon  obtained  the  massive  stones  of  his  Temple, 
and  whence  the  material  was  brought  with  which 
a  new  Jerusalem  was  built  fourteen  separate  times. 
They  are  of  huge  extent,  and  form  a  network  of  long 
and  wide  but  intricate  galleries  with  which  the  rock 
is  honeycombed.  The  labyrinth  is  entered  by  a  narrow 
passage  near  the  Damascus  Gate.  Formerly  it  was 
left  open  to  anybody  who  chose  to  enter,  and  the  maze 
to  which  it  led  was  inhabited  by  gipsies — even  in 
Jerusalem  there  are  gipsies; — and  other  vagabonds. 
Jerusalem  is  a  garrison  city,  and  the  military  element 
there,  as  elsewhere,  often  gets  into  mischief.  Many 
a  disreputable  scene  was  enacted  underground,  while 
official  negligence  shrugged  its  shoulders  and  let  it 
pass.  But  even  Turkish  indifferentism  was  moved 
from  its  accustomed  equanimity  when  dynamite  was 
discovered  under  the  Serail.  The  danger  of  a  real 
blowing  up,  by  European  methods,  was  more  potent 


JERUSALEM  71 

than  the  reproach  of  Europeans,  and  the  Augean  stable 
was  straightway  cleansed  and  emptied.  It  has  been 
empty  ever  since,  the  entrance  is  always  barred  and 
locked,  and  the  keys  are  forthcoming  only  in  exchange 
for  bakhshish. 

There  were  five  of  us  who  entered,  each  with  a 
burning  candle,  and  in  solemn  silence  we  followed  our 
guide  as  he  led  us  down  a  slippery  incline,  far  away 
to  beneath  the  very  site  of  the  Temple.  The  transition 
from  the  noise  and  the  glare  and  the  dust  outside 
was  very  impressive.  No  catacombs  could  appear 
so  much  a  city  of  the  dead  as  these  immense  quarries 
which  undermine  all  Jerusalem.  One  could  trace  the 
marks  of  pick-axes  on  the  rocks  all  around,  and  grad- 
ually realize  what  an  immense  amount  of  labor  was 
involved  in  thus  hollowing  out  Mount  Zion  and  the 
other  sacred  hills.  Here  at  last  one  could  think  and 
live  through  our  history  once  again.  In  Jerusalem 
itself  one  is  too  much  distracted  by  the  importunities  of 
dragomans  and  the  innumerable  sights  to  be  seen. 
And  even  here  our  day-dreams  were  soon  rudely 
broken.  All  at  once  our  guide  discovered  that  he  had 
lost  his  way,  and  we  had  to  blow  out  all  our  candles 
but  one,  so  as  to  economize  our  light  in  case  we 
might  have  to  spend  many  hours  before  finding  our 
way  out.  Luckily  even  this  adventure  ended  in 
a  commonplace  manner,  and  the  sound  of  trickling 
water  put  us  on  the  right  track  once  more.  We  found 
large  ponds  of  water,  like  the  subterranean  lakes  in  a 
salt  mine,  only  the  water  was  not  briny,  but  fresh 
and  sweet.  Evidently  it  is  here  that  one  should  seek 
for  the  springs  that  supplied  Jerusalem  in  its  halcyon 
days,  and  fed  the  famous  pool  of  Siloam.  Even  now, 


72  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

there  is  an  endless  quantity  of  water  in  underground 
Jerusalem,  and  it  would  cost  but  a  small  sum,  thirty 
thousand  pounds  or  so,  to  make  a  permanent  water 
supply.  Some  years  ago  Lady  Burdett-Coutts  offered 
to  defray  the  cost  out  of  her  own  pocket,  but  political 
motives,  or  possibly  carelessness,  induced  the  Turks  to 
decline  her  noble  offer.  However,  the  present  Pasha 
told  us  that  should  such  an  offer  be  repeated  under  his 
regime,  he  would  gratefully  accept  it.* 

HOSPITALS 

However  easy  it  may  be  to  improve  the  health 
conditions  of  Jerusalem,  its  unhealthiness  is  the 
unfortunate  fact  of  to-day.  Hence  the  number  of 
its  hospitals.  There  are  no  less  than  eleven,  besides 
four  dispensaries.  Of  these,  the  largest  is  the  Russian 
hospital,  with  seventy-five  beds. 

Practically,  each  nation  and,  indeed,  denomination 
has  a  hospital  of  its  own  —  English,  American,  Greek, 
German,  and  so  on.  The  Leper's  Home  of  the  Herrn- 
huter  Brethren,  with  twenty-three  beds,  is  a  gruesome 
link  with  the  past.  But  we  Jews  are  particularly 
interested  in  four*  institutions:  the  new  Rothschild 
Hospital  extra  muros;  the  Bikkur  Cholim  (D'bin 


'  The  late  Sir  Edward  Lechmere  subsequently  obtained  an 
irade  from  the  Sultan  authorizing  the  establishment  of  water 
works,  and  formed  a  committee,  of  which  the  writer  was  one 
of  the  members,  but  through  local  opposition  the  scheme  came 
to  naught. 

8  Since  this  was  written,  a  handsome  building  has  been 
erected  by  subscription,  chiefly  of  Amsterdam  and  Frankfort 
Jews,  at  the  extreme  west  of  the  Jaffa  suburb.  This  is  the  fifth 
and  largest  of  the  Jewish  hospitals  at  Jerusalem. 


JERUSALEM  73 

Hospital  of  the  Ashkenazim;  the  Misgab  Ladach 
qY?  3JIPD)  of  the  Sephardim;  and  the  English 
Mission  Hospital  for  the  Jews.  The  new  hospital,  about 
ten  minutes'  walk  outside  the  Jaffa  Gate,  is  a  really 
beautiful  building,  fitted  with  all  modern  improvements. 
It  stands  in  the  best  situation  for  air,  drainage,  and 
water  that  could  be  found  within  an  hour's  radius 
of  Jerusalem.  It  is  surrounded  by  an  open  space  of 
about  twelve  acres,  which  is  partly  to  be  planted  with 
Eucalyptus  trees,  and  partly  to  be  converted  into  a  fruit 
and  flower  garden.  To  English  ideas,  the  cost  of  erec- 
tion, sixty-eight  thousand  francs,  seems  ridiculously 
small.  The  land  was  bought  about  six  years  ago  for 
thirty  thousand  francs,  but  it  has,  since  then,  much  in- 
creased in  value.  In  fact,  since  the  building  has  been 
finished,  the  French  Consul,  who  was  the  original  ven- 
dor of  the  land,  in  vain  offered  to  buy  it  back  again  for 
one  hundred  and  forty-eight  thousand  francs.  It  has 
space  for  fifty-two  beds,  or  even  more.  Every  regard 
seems  to  have  been  taken  about  Kashruth,  and  the  Shool 
with  its  three  fine  Scrolls  would  be  a  credit  to  the  most 
orthodox.  All  the  registers,  patients'  cards,  prescrip- 
tions, labels,  etc.,  are  printed  in  Hebrew.  It  is  entirely 
supported  by  the  munificence  of  the  Rothschild  family, 
and  Baron  Alphonse  has  given  particular  instructions 
that  it  is  to  be  conducted  quite  selon  les  rbgles  of 
the  Shulchan  Aruch. 

DOCTOR  D'ARBELA 

The  managing  physician  is  Dr.  Israel  Gregory 
d'Arbela,  who  is  a  veritable  Jewish  hero  of  romance. 
He  was  born  in  Russia,  studied  in  the  Imperial  Mili- 
tary Medical  School  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  afterwards 


74  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

at  the  University  of  Rome,  of  which  he  is  an  M.  D. 
During  his  seven  years'  military  service  he  was 
wounded  on  the  battlefield,  and  is  one  of  the  few 
Russian  Jews  decorated  by  the  Czar  for  personal  gal- 
lantry. He  spent  a  short  time  at  Cairo,  where  the 
Khedive  made  him  a  Bey;  has  been  in  India,  and  in 
Natal,  where  he  practiced  as  a  physician  for  a  year. 
For  seven  years,  from  1880,  he  lived  in  Zanzibar,  with 
the  rank  of  a  general,  surgeon-major  of  the  Sultan's 
army,  and  his  private  physician.  In  that  capacity  he 
was  able  to  do  much  for  the  advancement  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  rendered  good  service  to  British  interests,  as 
Sir  John  Kirk  has  testified.  He  vaccinated  all  the 
dusky  members  of  Stanley's  following  when  that 
adventurous  traveller  started  on  his  last  journey  into 
the  interior  of  Africa,  and  was  the  last  European  to  bid 
him  farewell.  The  great  explorer  confided  to  him 
that  he  had  other  objects  in  view,  besides  that  of  re- 
lieving Emin  Bey.  Accordingly,  in  October,  1888,  the 
doctor  could  assure  me  that  Stanley  was  safe, 
when  everybody  else  gave  him  up  for  lost. 
D'Arbela  has  seven  or  eight  decorations  from  various 
European  sovereigns,  and  his  inlaid  guns  and  diamond 
hilted  sword  are  a  sight  to  see.  He  is  a  man  of 
means,  and  the  primary  object  which  prompted  him 
to  settle  in  the  Holy  Land  was  his  desire  to  assist 
in  the  SKIET  yiK  sitr,  and  to  give  his  dear  little 
girl  and  boy  a  Jewish  education.  His  dark  bright- 
eyed  little  daughter  is  sweetly  pretty,  and  speaks 
English  with  charming  shyness.  She  is  only  seven, 
but  has  already  made  a  conquest!  The  doctor  takes 
much  interest  in  his  agricultural  colonies,  and  has  a 
considerable  pecuniary  stake  in  them.  He  owns  half- 


JERUSALEM  75 

a-million  vines  in  the  Rishon  colony,  and  has  a  pro- 
found belief  in  its  future.  A  brother  of  his  is  an 
artillery  engineer  in  the  Russian  army ;  but  rather 
than  continue  in  the  service  and  give  up  Judaism, 
as  the  authorities  require  him  to  do,  he  is  going  out  to 
Palestine,  and  will  manage  his  brother's  vineyard. 
Dr.  d'Arbela  may  not  be  scrupulously  observant,  ac- 
cording to  Jewish  notions,  but  he  never  eats  Trefa, 
nor  smokes  on  Sabbath.  He  is  a  handsome,  active 
man,  and  though  he  mourns  for  the  wife  he  has  lost, 
he  is  too  much  of  an  idealist  or  an  enthusiast  to  be 
anything  but  the  most  agreeable  and  refreshing  of 
companions. 

It  is  no  doubt,  in  some  respects,  a  disadvantage 
that  the  new  Rothschild  Hospital  is  not  inside  the  town, 
as  the  old  one  was.  The  bulk  of  the  community  lives, 
of  course,  within  the  walls,  but  there  are  already  three 
thousand  Jews  or  more  who  live  outside,  within  five 
minutes'  walk  of  the  hospital,  and  there  is  every  pros- 
pect that  any  future  increase  in  the  Jewish  community 
will  be  precisely  in  this  neighborhood.  Indeed,  the 
special  object  of  my  journey  was  to  arrange  for  the 
development,  by  building  societies,  of  the  Montefiore 
estate,  which  is  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
hospital.  The  plan,  if  successfully  carried  out,  will 
lead  to  the  provision  of  dwellings  for  a  thousand  more 
of  our  co-religionists.  On  the  whole,  except  for 
very  serious  cases,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in 
bringing  patients  from  the  very  furthest  part  of  the 
town  to  this  new  suburban  site.  In  the  palmiest  days 
of  its  history,  it  was  never  more  than  twenty-five  min- 
utes' walk  from  end  to  end  of  Jerusalem,  so  that  the 
objections  to  an  institution  outside  the  city  walls  must 
not  be  exaggerated, 


76  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

THE  MISSIONARIES 

The  Missionary  Hospital,  which  accommodates 
twenty-eight  indoor  patients,  is  inside  the  city,  and 
its  object,  ever  since  1842,  when  it  was  established, 
is,  admittedly,  to  attract  Jews,  and  Jews  only,  and  to 
seduce,  if  not  coerce,  them  into  Christianity.  As 
Jews,  we  have  the  duty  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  combat 
the  insidious  influence  of  the  missionaries,  and  so  the 
hospital  accommodation  we  should  be  ready  to  provide 
should  equal  the  demand,  without  regard  to  the  Roth- 
schild Hospital  outside  the  city.  Now,  the  only  existing 
provision  is  that  furnished  by  the  Bikkur  Cholim, 
which  has  thirty  beds,  and  to  which  an  upper  story  has 
just  been  added  by  the  liberality  of  one  Mr.  Witten- 
berg, a  resident  in  Jerusalem.  This  is  not  enough, 
if  we  have  regard  to  the  fact  that  hospital  cases  are 
drafted  to  Jerusalem  from  Hebron,  Nablous,  Safed, 
and  Tiberias.  Those  from  the  Colonies,  whose  Jewish 
population  is  now  close  upon  four  thousand,  and  those 
from  Jaffa  with  its  fifteen  hundred  Jews,  will  probably 
go  to  the  new  hospital. 

The  only  available  city  site  for  a  new  hospital  is  that 
of  the  old  Rothschild  Hospital,  and  this  has  been 
recently  sold  to  the  Sephardi  community  for  twenty 
thousand  francs,  a  third  part  of  its  value,  on  condition 
that  it  should  be  applied  only  for  the  communal  benefit. 
The  intention  is  to  erect  on  it  a  hospital  for  the 
Sephardi  Friendly  Society,  called  Misgab  Ladach,  and 
manage  it  on  the  same  lines  as  the  Bikkur  Cholim,  the 
sister  institution  for  the  Ashkenazim.  The  Sephardim 
scraped  together  ten  thousand  francs  among  them- 
selves, and  have  sought  a  loan  of  the  rest  from  the 
Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial  Committee,  Mean- 


JERUSALEM  77 

time  the  banker,  Signer  Valero,  has  advanced  the 
money.  Now,  there  is  a  fund  amounting  to  about 
nine  thousand  pounds  collected  by  our  co-religionists 
in  Frankfort  and  Amsterdam  for  the  express  object 
of  founding  and  endowing  a  hospital  in  Jerusalem. 
They  acquired  a  piece  of  land,  but,  as  they  could  not 
obtain  the  Pasha's  concession  to  build  a  hospital  on  it, 
they  had  to  sell  the  ground  they  had  bought.4  It  would, 
therefore,  be  eminently  desirable  if  they  would  apply 
the  funds  in  enlarging,  improving,  and  Europcanizing 
the  Bikkur  Cholim  and  the  Misgab  Ladach.  They 
would  thus  be  enabled  to  supply  the  existing  want, 
without  multiplying  institutions  or  wasting  the  expen- 
ses of  a  new  installation.  On  my  way  home  to  Eng- 
land, I  attended  a  meeting  of  the  committee  at  Frank- 
fort, and  advocated  this  view.  Our  Dutch  and  German 
co-religionists  are  very  practical,  and  I  was  confident 
that  the  commonsense  view  of  the  matter  would  appeal 
to  them,  even  though  it  might  involve  some  small  sacri- 
fice of  effect. 

Competent  persons  think  the  site  of  the  old  Roth- 
schild Hospital  as  suitable  as  any  inside  Jerusalem. 
It  overlooks  the  "  Dome  of  the  Rock  "  and  the  Hara- 
mesh  Sherif  generally,  as  well  as  the  Mount  of  Olives, 
and  is  on  the  edge  of  the  cliff  overhanging  the  Brook 
of  Kedron  at  the  height  of  at  least  two  hundred  feet. 
The  situation  is  a  grand  one,  but  certainly  not  so 
healthy  as  one  outside  the  gates.  At  present  it  is  a 
building  of  only  one  story ;  but  it  has  splendid  tanks 
and  good  water,  which  did  not  run  dry  even  during 
this  last  year  of  drought ;  but  occasionally  the  purchase 

4  The  hospital  lias  since  been  erected  on  an  admirable  site 
at  the  west  end  of  the  Jaffa  Road. 


78  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

of  water  might  become  necessary.  Like  all  Jerusalem 
houses,  it  is  built  of  stone,  and  has  a  dome-shaped 
roof.  Indeed,  the  countless  little  domes  which  stud 
the  city  give  it  a  curiously  characteristic  appearance — 
something  like  a  collection  of  white  bee-hives  or  hen- 
coops. A  few  houses  have  flat  roofs;  but  even  they 
conceal  a  cupola,  so  that  the  vaulted  rooms  are  always 
cool,  even  in  the  height  of  summer.  The  rooms  vary 
in  height,  and  are  arranged  without  much  regard  to  uni- 
formity ;  the  passages  are  always  exposed  to  the  open 
air,  so  that  in  the  rainy  season — and  in  November  and 
December  last  there  seems  to  have  been  an  abnormal 
amount  of  rain — living  is  rather  uncomfortable.  How- 
ever, such  as  it  is,  the  place  after  being  closed  for  about 
seven  weeks — when  the  removal  to  the  Jaffa  Road  was 
made — was  re-opened  on  Wednesday,  the  27th  of 
Tishri,  1888,  by  the  Misgab  Ladach,  and  the  Society 
was  good  enough  to  invite  me  to  attend  the  inaugura- 
tion. The  invitation  was  printed  on  a  neat  little  white 
card  and,  of  course,  in  Hebrew.  The  hour  fixed  was 
nine  o'clock,  but  as  time  is  a  variable  quantity  in  Jeru- 
salem, it  was  a  matter  of  some  little  calculation  to  make 
out  that  this  corresponded  to  about  two  in  the 
afternoon. 

CLOCKS 

It  is  not  a  little  puzzling  to  find  the  clocks  striking 
all  hours  at  all  times  in  Jerusalem,  so  that  in  that  city 
something  like  Jules  Verne's  famous  solecism  of 
Big  Ben  striking  twenty  minutes  to  seven  could  easily 
be  realized.  Every  ecclesiastical  building  possesses  its 
own  clock,  and  not  only  do  they  not  "  go  just  alike," 
but  they  all  differ  widely  and  wilfully,  so  that  it  seems 


JERUSALEM  79 

that  clerical  disputes  are  allowed  to  affect  the  chrono- 
logy of  every  day.  I  always  made  my  appointments 
by  Prankish  time,  but  an  hour's  margin  was  invariably 
necessary !  A  couple  of  American  timekeepers  be- 
stowed upon  Mr.  Kaminitz's  bright  and  obliging  sons 
and  henchmen,  Bezaleel  and  Marcus,  will,  perhaps,  do 
a  little  to  punctualize  their  environment.  This  is  not 
meant  to  imply  that  at  their  own  home  and  hotel  their 
father,  or  rather  their  mother,  kept  the  guests  waiting 
for  lunch  at  one,  or  dinner  at  seven.  Au  contraire, 
the  best  clock  seems  to  be  that  we  carry  within  us, 
and  judging  by  the  impartial  evidence  of  the  stomach, 
we  can  vouch  for  their  punctuality.  Our  table  d'hote 
was  always  good  and  plentiful,  and  it  was  not  without 
something  of  a  "  rush  "  that  I  managed  to  get  to  the 
Misgab  Ladach  gathering  in  time  for  the  ceremony. 

A  MEETING 

The  meeting  provided  further  proof  of  the  cordial  re- 
lations subsisting  between  the  Ashkenazim  and  the  Se- 
phardim,  which  were  as  conspicuous  as  gratifying.  The 
venerable  and  handsome  Chacham  Bashi  Panizel,  the 
"  First  'in  Zion,"  as  he  is  called,  was  there,  with  his 
delegate,5  Har  Behar  Eliashar,  and  next  to  them  sat 
the  Reverend  Samuel  Salant,  Chief  Rabbi  of  the  Ash- 
kenazim. Many  of  the  physicians  of  the  city  were 
present,  and  the  lay  element  was  represented  by 
Messrs.  Valero,  Behar,  Pines,  and  others.  The  pro- 
ceedings consisted  of  a  long  address  in  classical  He- 
brew delivered  by  Mr.  Mcnahcm  Cohen,  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Society,  and  various  complimentary  speeches, 
as  the  custom  is  on  such  occasions  all  the  world  over. 

r'  And  afterwards  his  successor. 


8o 


The  morning's  mail  had  brought  The  Jewish  Chroni- 
cle, announcing  that  Major  Goldsmid  had  obtained  his 
"  step."  The  gallant  Colonel  is  a  great  favorite  in 
Jerusalem,  and  it  was  quite  charming  to  see  the  Cha- 
cham  Bashi's  face  light  up  as  I  explained  to  him  that 
the  promotion  was  equivalent  to  the  conversion  of  a 
Bey  into  a  Pasha ! 

TOMBS 

Until  one  goes  to  the  Holy  Land,  one  cannot  realize 
how  numerous  are  the  objects  which  demand  attention. 
The  first  impression  of  the  smallness  of  the  country 
soon  wears  off  when  one  begins  to  understand  how  rich 
it  is  in  association.  To  the  Jew  this  is  specially  no- 
ticeable. For  myself,  I  frankly  admit  that  the  specifi- 
cally Christological  monuments  had  comparatively  little 
interest ;  not  that,  as  a  rule,  I  care  for  them  less,  but 
because  I  care  for  our  own,  our  very  own,  antiquities 
more.  Every  inch  of  the  sacred  soil  is  so  bound  up 
with  our  history  during  and  after  Bible  times,  that  like 
the  literary  ignoramus  who  found  fault  with  "Hamlet" 
because  it  was  so  full  of  quotations,  I  could  hardly  help 
thinking  the  crowding  of  "  effects,"  the  toujours  per- 
drix  of  sightseeing,  quite  theatrical.  I  despair  of 
giving  an  impression  at  all  accurate  of  the  things  seen 
and  to  be  seen.  Take,  for  instance,  the  case  of  se- 
pulchral monuments.  We  all  know  that,  throughout 
our  history,  we  Jews  have  deemed  it  a  high  privilege  to 
be  buried  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  therefore  it  is  not 
surprising  that  Palestine  in  general,  and  the  God's- 
acre  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  in  particular, 
form  a  veritable  Pantheon  of  Jewish  worthies.  As  I 
write,  I  have  before  me  a  catalogue  of  not  less  than 


JERUSALEM  81 

two  hundred  and  ninety  patriarchs,  prophets,  and  rab- 
bis whose  tombs  have  been  identified,  and  the  anni- 
versaries of  whose  death  are  celebrated  to  this  day  by 
our  co-religionists,  who  dwell  on  this  the  largest 
campo  santo  in  the  world.  The  list  is  confessedly  in- 
complete, and  yet  I  can  only  refer  to  two  or  three  of 
them,  and  to  those  but  slightly. 

KING  DAVID'S  SEPULCHRE 

Of  Jewish  sepulchres  at  Jerusalem,  that  of  King 
David  is,  of  course,  of  chief  interest  to  everybody,  al- 
though from  the  architectural  view  it  is  absolutely  fea- 
tureless. It  lies  to  the  southwest  of  Mount  Zion, 
about  eight  minutes'  walk  outside  the  Bethlehem  Gate. 
A  small  mosque  and  two  or  three  white-domed  Mo- 
hammedan buildings  cover  the  site,  and  constitute  a 
little  village  called  the  Neby  Daub.  For  half  a  piastre, 
if  one  is  a  native,  for  five  piastres,  if  a  tourist,  one  can 
enter  a  room  on  the  first  floor  in  which  a  sarcophagus 
is  shown.  This  the  custodians  assert  to  be  the  veritable 
coffin  of  the  Warrior  King,  and  it  is,  indeed,  covered 
with  costly  carpets  and  countless  little  rags,  deposited 
there  by  devout  Moslem  pilgrims.  They  always  thus 
honor  the  tombs  of  their  saints,  and  leave  a  shred  of 
their  clothing,  as  a  European  might  leave  a  visit- 
ing card,  to  remind  the  holy  defunct  to  intercede  for 
them  in  Heaven.  The  Mohammedans  of  Jerusalem 
will  not  see  the  absurdity  of  expecting  travellers 
to  believe  that  the  King  can  be  buried  on  an  upper 
story,  but  the  Pasha  knows  very  well  that  the  real  tomb 
is  in  the  vault  beneath,  cut  in  the  solid  rock.  Admis- 
sion to  this  vault  is  absolutely  forbidden  ;  it  is  regarded 


82  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

as  even  more  sacred  than  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  and 
when  the  Austrian  Crown  Prince  received  a  personal 
firman  from  the  Sultan  authorizing  him  to  enter,  he 
had  to  unlock  the  gates  himself,  and  even  the  Pasha, 
albeit  a  Governor  of  the  land,  with  power  of  life  and 
death,  dared  not  accompany  him,  because  his  name  was 
not  included  in  the  Imperial  warrant. 

CATACOMBS 

The  catacombs,  which  the  guide  books  call  the 
"Tombs  of  the  Kings,"  are  really  the  burial  places 
of  Calba  Sabbua  and  his  family.  Readers  of 
Dr.  Richardson's  "  Son  of  a  Star  "  will  recognize  in 
this  man  the  almost  princely  father-in-law  of  Rabbi 
Akiba.  The  tombs  consist  of  three  square  rock  cham- 
bers with  shelves  all  round,  on  which  traces  of  richly 
carved  sarcophagi  still  remain.  They  lie  about  five 
minutes  to  the  north  of  the  Jaffa  Road,  near  what  the 
Arabs  are  pleased  to  call  the  "  Tower  of  Goliath  " 
(Kalat  Jalud).  The  whole  terrain  was  purchased  by 
our  co-religionist,  Madame  Pereire,  in  1867,  and  by 
her  presented  to  the  Empire  of  France,  as  the  He- 
brew inscription  on  the  southeast  (the  largest)  cham- 
ber testifies.  A  good  many  authorities  insist,  but  I 
think  without  sufficient  reason,  that  this  is  the  place 
of  burial  of  Helena,  Queen  of  Adiabene,  whose  con- 
version to  Judaism,  with  her  son  and  successor,  in  48, 
constitutes  one  of  the  most  charming  episodes  in  the 
romance  of  Jewish  history.  During  the  excavations 
made  in  1867,  and  again  in  1880,  several  bones  were 
disturbed,  and  these  were,  on  each  occasion,  reverently 
collected  and  buried  by  our  people  with  much  pomp. 
I  refer  to  only  one  other  of  these  "  stones  crying 


JERUSALEM  83 

out,"  and  then  pass — reluctantly — to  the  Jerusalem  of 
to-day.  The  Cave  of  Jeremiah  is  another  of  those 
places  where  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  Jews, 
Christians,  and  Mohammedans,  who,  despite  the 
independence  of  their  several  traditions,  concur  in 
treating  them  as  sacred,  gives  powerful  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  revealed  religion.  Near  the  mouth  of  the 
cavern  bloom  some  of  the  few  fruit  trees  which  are 
left  to  remind  one  of  the  fertility  of  the  Jerusalem  of 
the  past. 

The  place  itself  I  can  allow  the  traveller  Henry 
Maundrell  to  describe  in  his  own  words,  the  more  so 
as  the  quotation  contains  the  only  reference  to  Jews 
the  worthy  chaplain  makes  in  his  whole  description 
of  the  "  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusalem,"  which 
he  undertook  in  1696.  He  calls  it  "  a  large  grot 
a  little  without  Damascus  Gate,  which  is  said  to  have 
been  the  residence  of  Jeremiah,  and  here  they  showed 
us  the  Prophet's  Bed,  being  a  shelve  on  the  Rock  about 
eight  foot  from  the  ground,  and  near  it  is  the  place 
where  they  say  he  wrote  his  Lamentations.  This  place 
is  now  a  college  of  Dervises,  and  is  much  honored  by 
Turks  and  Jews." 

DERVISHES 

The  Turks,  for  all  their  lazinqss  and  sensuality,  are 
distinguished  by  the  profound  respect  they  pay  to  reli- 
gion, by  their  dignified  demeanor,  and  by  their  tem- 
perance. With  regard  to  religious  matters,  I  was  par- 
ticularly struck  by  the  solemnity  of  the  Howling  Der- 
vishes, despite  the  grotesqueness  of  their  performance. 
In  Mohammedan  countries  the  priestly  office  is  not 
confined  to  a  caste,  and  any  tradesman  may  become  a 


84  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Dervish  on  high  days  and  festivals  without  detriment 
to  either  his  weekday  business  or  reputation.  Abunaji, 
though  Sheikh  of  the  great  Mosque  of  Omar,  is  none 
the  less  a  shrewd  merchant  of  Jerusalem.  He  sends 
his  son  to  the  school  of  Nissim  Behar,  to  whom  both 
he  and  his  son  are  much  attached.  On  Friday,  the  28th 
September,  1888,  the  lad  persuaded  his  father  to  have 
the  howling  "  Zikr  "  at  home  and  not  in  the  Mosque,  so 
that  we  and  other  Giaours  might  witness  it.  To  my  in- 
tense astonishment  no  objection  was  made  to  this,  and 
we  were  able  to  see  the  mystic  circling  and  hear  the 
monotonous  ejaculations  of  Allah!  Allah!  from  the 
vantage  point  of  the  roof  of  an  outhouse,  while  the  Der- 
vishes occupied  the  courts  below.  The  ceremony  dif- 
fered from  that  of  either  the  "  howling  "  or  "  dancing  " 
at  Constantinople  and  Cairo,  but  its  wild,  weird 
movements  have  been  too  often  described  to  require 
repetition.  What  most  struck  me  was  the  "  prentice  " 
system  by  which  quite  little  boys  were  permitted  to  join 
the  circle  and  imitate  their  elders,  and  the  sang-froid 
with  which  Dr.  d'Arbela  watched  the  epileptic  stupor 
of  a  tall  Nubian,  who  had  been  particularly  energetic 
in  his  zeal  and  in  whom  I  recognized  the  porter  of  the 
Rothschild  School.  The  comic  side  of  the  matter  was 
even  more  pronounced  than  in  the  case  of  the  Chassi- 
dish  dancers,  but  though  one  may  have  smiled,  laughter 
is  not  tabooed  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  irresistible  humor 
of  the  situation  did  not  and  does  not  prevent  one  from 
appreciating  the  pathos  of  their  devotion  and  admiring 
their  sincerity. 


JERUSALEM  85 

SYNAGOGUES 

Of  the  synagogues,  reference  has  already  been  made 
to  the  large  Sephardi  synagogue,  p-y  bnp,  built  so 
long  ago  as  1556,  and  the  spy  jvn,  the  Great  Shool 
of  the  Ashkenazim,  built  just  twenty-five  years  ago. 
Larger  than  either  of  these  is  the  Chassidim  synagogue, 
Stner  mNan,  built  in  memory  of  Rabbi  Israel  of  Rosen 
and  Rabbi  Nissim  Bak.  The  Syrians,  the  Cau- 
casians (D;WU  from  "  Gruria  "  or  "Georgia"),  the 
Thessalonicans,  and  so  on,  have  each  their  own  place  of 
worship,  so  that  reckoning  the  Houses  of  Study 
(emo  TO)  there  are  over  sixty  synagogues  in  the  Holy 
City.  One  of  the  most  curious  is  the  tiny  little  syna- 
gogue in  the  Karaite  quarter,  in  which  one  is  credibly 
informed  that  they  never  have  Minyan.  About  three 
families  live  here  and  provide  for  all  the  Karaite  pil- 
grims, of  whom  many  come  from  Egypt  and  the 
Crimea  in  the  course  of  the  year.  The  names  of 
several  hundred  such  pilgrims  are  written,  "  for  a 
memorial,"  on  the  white  walls  of  the  little  square,  or 
cul-de-sac,  round  which  the  little  Karaite  houses  are 
built.  I  also  saw  rudely  painted  on  the  wall  what  was 
less  pleasing,  the  open  red  hand  with  which  the  super- 
stitious Oriental  wards  off  the  "  evil  eye."  Manasseh 
ben  Israel  has  a  curious  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
this,  anything  but  Jewish,  symbol,  which  belongs  to  the 
mysteries  of  folklore.  The  Karaite  inhabitants  seem 
to  think  that  they  are  under  a  curse  in  Jerusalem,  and 
that  their  numbers  will  never  comprise  ten  men.  They 
are  shunned  by  the  other  Jews.  Their  synagogue  is 
at  least  two  hundred  years  old. 


86  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

THE  CHALUKAH   SYSTEM 

And  now  a  word  as  to  the  famous  Chalukah  system. 
All  moneys  which  are  sent  to  Jerusalem  by  the 
benevolent  for  general  objects  are  paid  by  the  Rabbis 
and  Treasurers  into  two  common  funds,  one  for  the 
Sephardim  and  one  for  the  Ashkenazim.  The  Sephardi 
theory  is  that  contributions  are  sent  by  way  of  bursa- 
ries, as  a  premium  upon  learning,  and  the  money  is  dis- 
tributed on  this  basis,  and  even  well-to-do  persons 
accept  it  lest  a  slur  might  be  deemed  to  be  cast  upon 
their  wisdom.  I  know  of  only  two  exceptions,  and  one 
of  these  used  to  be  like  the  rest,  till  his  European 
friends  shamed  him  out  of  it.  No  one  but  the  Talmid 
Chacham  is  supposed  to  be  entitled  to  a  share  in  the 
Chalukah,  but  a  proportion  of  the  fund  is  set  apart  for 
communal  purposes  and  schools.  The  fund  is  regarded 
very  much  like  a  university  endowment  in  England. 
Such  a  fellowship  is  obtained  by  election  and  by  intel- 
lectual qualifications,  not  of  a  very  exhaustive  or  ex- 
hausting kind,  perhaps,  but  certainly  not  inferior  to  the 
composition  of  Greek  and  Latin  verses  or  the  solu- 
tion of  mathematical  puzzles,  which  used  to  be  the 
only  "  open-sesame "  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  and 
are  still  the  English  high  roads  to  advancement  in  life, 
social  or  political. 

The  Ashkenazim,  however,  retain  the  theory  that  the 
Chalukah  is  intended  as  a  subvention  for  the  poor, 
but  the  practical  difference  between  the  two  views  is 
not  very  great.  Most  people  are  scholars  in  Jerusalem, 
but  certainly  all  are  poor,  and  in  this  respect  the  ana- 
logy of  the  mediaeval  university  still  applies.  As  I  said 
before,  all  contributions  are  ear-marked  according  to 


JERUSALEM  87 

their  place  of  origin,  and  divided  among  the  fellow- 
countrymen  of  the  contributors.  For  this  purpose  the 
Ashkenazim  are  divided  into  eight  Kolelim,or  "classes" 
(literally,  universities).  Each  member  of  theY'in  S'^iD 
(Holland  und  Deutschland),  for  instance,  receives  two 
hundred  and  fifty  francs  per  annum,  but  these  are  so 
well  paid  only  because  they  are  so  few  that  they  can  be 
counted  with  the  fingers.  The  Hungarians  get  one 
hundred  and  fifty  francs ;  while  the  men  of  Warsaw 
get  forty,  and  those  of  Pinsk  no  more  than  seven 
francs  a  year.  But  however  small  the  income  thus 
obtained  may  be,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of  regu- 
larity about  it,  which  makes  it  especially  appreciated. 
Unfortunately,  it  is  just  this  element  of  regularity  that 
enables  the  recipients  to  hypothecate  or  alienate  it  in 
advance  and  thus  deprive  themselves  of  all  practical 
benefit  therefrom  as  an  aid  to  their  maintenance.  Rents 
in  Jerusalem  are  not  high,  five  or  six  Napoleons  per 
annum  for  the  average-sized  house,  but  they  have  al- 
ways to  be  paid  in  advance,  and  to  provide  this  the 
Chalukah  is  often  sold  three  or  four  years  in  advance. 
The  system  is,  of  course,  pernicious,  but  it  is  gradually 
dying  a  natural  death,  and  the  amount  of  this  unearned 
increment  becomes  more  and  more  insignificant  every 
year.  Many  reasons  combine  to  bring  this  about.  The 
number  of  the  recipients  increases  very  largely,  and  the 
amount  of  the  contributions  has  decreased  in  even 
greater  proportions,  partly  owing  to  Russian  troubles 
and  partly  to  the  specialization  of  gifts  for  particular 
objects,  such  as  schools  and  hospitals.  It  would  be 
cruel  and  injudicious  to  stop  the  Chalukah  suddenly, 
and  therefore  the  new  Society,  called  "  Lemaan  Zion," 
though  started  under  high  auspices  in  Germany,  is  not 


88  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

likely  to  succeed  in  its  abolition,  and  the  storm  of  pro- 
test it  has  raised  in  Jerusalem  is  really  neither  sur- 
prising nor  unjustifiable. 

JEWISH  ARTISANS 

There  are  a  goodly  number  of  Jewish  trades  in 
Jerusalem,  as  can  perhaps  be  best  evidenced  by  the 
medical  statistics  with  respect  to  the  out-door  patients 
of  the  Rothschild  Hospital  for  the  year  1886.  In  a 
list  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-five  patients,  'thirty-four 
distinct  trades  are  represented:  bakers,  bookbinders, 
braziers,  clerks,  cobblers,  cooks,  colporteurs,  day- 
laborers,  dyers,  goldsmiths,  hatters,  joiners,  litho- 
graphers, locksmiths,  mattress-makers,  merchants, 
millers,  nurses,  printers,  polishers,  sculptors,  tailors, 
tinkers,  turners,  tanners,  watchmakers,  and -so  on. 

Of  course,  there  are  many  unemployed.  Some  can't 
find  work  and  others  are  too  old.  The  longevity  of 
some  of  the  inhabitants  is  surprising.  Many  persons, 
mostly  from  Russia  and  Roumania,  stint  them- 
selves all  their  lives,  so  as  to  scrape  together  a  little 
money  to  take  them  in  their  old  age  to  Palestine,  and 
support  them  till  they  die  there.  Several  instances 
were  pointed  out  to  me  of  feeble  veterans  who  had 
reached  the  Holy  City  seemingly  at  death's  door. 
The  change  of  climate  and  mode  of  life,  perhaps  their 
spiritual  exaltation,  had  made  them  hale  and  hearty 
and  almost  young  again. 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM 

The  Tomb  of  Rachel  —  Pilgrims  —  Reouf  Pasha  —  Prayers 
at  Rachel's  Tomb  —  Bethlehem  —  The  Cave  of  Adullam  — 
Artas. 

THE  TOMB  OF  RACHEL 

RACHEL'S  Tomb  is  probably  one  of  the  most  genuine 
of  the  many  places  of  historical  note  near  Jerusalem. 
Yet  even  its  authenticity  has  been  disputed.  Many  a 
modern  critic,  being  a  Geist  der  stets  verneint, 
thinks  that  Rachel  was  buried  to  the  north  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  not  to  the  south,  on  the  right  of  the  road 
to  Bethlehem.  In  this,  he  is  merely  repeating  a  Tal- 
mudical  controversy  between  the  Minim,  or  early  Chris- 
tians, and  the  Jews.  Such  scepticism,  however, 
is  like  its  own  vaulting  ambition,  which  o'erleaps  itself, 
and  falls  upon  the  other.  The  weight  of  authority  is 
in  favor  of  tradition  this  time,  and  even  Robinson 
accepts  the  traditional  tomb  as  the  genuine  one. 
Throughout  historical  times,  Jew,  Christian,  and  Sara- 
cen have  revered  the  spot  as  sacred  to  the  memory  of 
their  common  mother,  the  most  womanly  and  the  most 
tender  of  all  the  Bible  characters.  The  only  practical 
difficulty  which  makes  against  the  identification  of 
this  locality  is  the  passage  in  I  Samuel  x.  2,  where  the 
Prophet  tells  Saul,  his  future  king,  that  he  will  "  find 
two  men  by  Rachel's  sepulchre  in  the  border  of 
Benjamin  at  Zelzah."  It  has  been  urged,  and  is  no 
doubt  true,  that  the  boundary  between  the  territories  of 
Judah  and  Benjamin  could  not  have  passed  this  way. 


90  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

The  difficulty,  however,  has  been  satisfactorily  solved 
by  Baurath  Schick,  the  clever  German  architect,  whose 
wonderful  model  of  the  Temple  makes  his  house  near 
the  new  Rothschild  Hospital,  just  outside  the  Jaffa 
Gate,  one  of  the  show  places  of  Jerusalem.  Herr 
Schick  lectured  on  the  subject  before  the  local  "  Ger- 
man Society,"  in  October,  18.78,  and  his  paper  is 
printed  in  the  first  (the  1881)  volume  of  Luncz's 
valuable  Jerusalem  Annual.  Mr.  Luncz  is  himself  one 
of  the  most  interesting  and  praiseworthy  of  the  Jewish 
residents  of  Palestine — one  of  those  men  who  forbid 
us  to  despair  of  the  future  progress  and  improvement 
of  our  brethren  there.  He  is  totally  blind,  but  his 
energy  is  inexhaustible,  his  temper  unsoured,  and  his 
literary  work  of  considerable  merit.  In  all  probability, 
there  were  two  monuments  bearing  Rachel's  name. 
The  real  one  was  in  Judah,  and  is  that  which  I  am  now 
describing.  The  other  was  a  cenotaph,  like  Absalom's 
Tomb.  It  is,  of  course,  identical  with  the  pillar  in  the 
"king's  dale  "  (i.  e.,  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat),  which 
he  reared  up  for  himself  in  his  lifetime ;  for,  he  said, 
"  I  have  no  son  to  keep  my  name  in  remembrance :  and 
he  called  the  pillar  after  his  own  name :  and  it  is  called 
unto  this  day  Absalom's  place."  Rachel's  cenotaph 
was,  probably,  a  monument  erected  by  the  Benjamites 
in  memory  of  their  ancestress,  upon  their  own  land, 
near  the  border,  and  on  a  spot  whence  the  real 
sepulchre  could  be  seen.  Anyhow,  nowadays  it  is 
only  the  latter  which  is  known  and  venerated.  Pil- 
grims of  all  creeds  hold  it  in  esteem,  but  it  is  most 
patronized  by  our  co-religionists. 


[Sec  page  130} 


OLD    PEOPLE'S    REST  AT  JERUSALEM 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM         91 

PILGRIMS 

Jews,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  do  not  constitute  even  a 
fifteenth  part  of  the  seven  or  eight  thousand  "  Hadjis  " 
who  annually  visit  the  Holy  City ;  and  of  the  five 
hundred  or  so  who  do  go  there,  I,  as  an  Ashkenazi, 
am  sorry  to  say  that  the  very  large  majority  are 
Sephardim.  Curiously  enough,  a  great  proportion 
come  from  the  Caucasus ;  and,  indeed,  this  only 
strengthens  the  sense  of  Russian  propaganda,  the 
leading  political  impression,  which  forces  itself  upon 
every  traveller  in  the  Sultan's  dominions.  More  than 
a  fourth  of  the  total  number  of  pilgrims  to  Palestine 
are  Russian.  The  Orthodox  Church  wishes  to  make 
Jerusalem  the  Rome  of  Greek  Catholicism,  and  its 
Patriarch,  the  dignified  Jerotheus,  its  Pope.  Every 
acre  of  land  in  the  market  seems  to  be  bought  by 
Russian  gold.  Almost  all  the  new  buildings  of  note 
are  Russian,  even  to  the  unsightly  bell-tower  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  which  dominates  and  deafens  Jeru- 
salem, and  can  be  seen  from  the  distant,  desolate, 
depressed,  and  depressing  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
Russian  interest  or  interference  in  the  holy  places 
could  not  be  better  exemplified  than  by  the  visit  of  the 
Imperial  Archdukes  whose  arrival  was  being  expected 
during  my  stay  in  Palestine.  In  their  honor  and  for 
their  comfort,  all  was  bustle  and  confusion.  It  is  no 
figure  of  speech  to  say  that  their  path  was  smoothed 
for  them.  The  Jaffa  Road  was  made  passable,  and  a 
new  carriage  road  to  Hebron  was  finished  actually 
before  the  contract  time,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  their 
royal  progress.  The  late  Baron  de  Hirsch  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  by  the  belief  that  Palestine  was 


92  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

destined  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Russia.  And  it 
was  this,  and  this  alone,  as  he  himself  assured  me, 
that  led  him  to  fix  upon  Argentina,  rather  than  the 
Holy  Land,  as  the  scene  of  his  great  experiment  in 
Jewish  agriculture. 

REOUF  PASHA 

The  real  credit  for  the  great  development  of 
engineering  activity,  which  is  making  Palestine  easy 
and  delightful  to  travel  in,  is  due  to  the  enlightened 
policy  of  the  Governor  of  Palestine,  Reouf  Pasha. 
His  Excellency,  to  whom  I  had  a  letter  of  introduction 
from  a  personal  friend,  who  was  a  fellow-student  of  his 
in  Paris,  received  me  most  amiably  on  the  half-a-dozen 
occasions  or  so  on  which  I  interviewed  him.  He  is 
a  tall  man  with  a  long  gray  beard,  and,  despite  his 
thoughtful,  almost  dreamy  eyes,  his  military  bearing  is 
unmistakable.  He  speaks  French  almost  as  well  as 
Turkish,  better,  indeed,  than  Arabic,  for  in  Govern- 
ment circles  Turkish  is  the  official  language.  He  is  a 
very  zealous  Mussulman,  perhaps  even  a  little  bigoted, 
and  his  strength  of  will  is  such  that,  where  questions 
of  religious  principle  are  concerned,  he  has  actually, 
and  with  success,  braved  the  displeasure  of  the  Grand 
Vizier  at  Constantinople,  and  disregarded  the  firman 
of  his  Imperial  master.  Rather  more  friendly  to  Jews 
than  to  Christians,  he  yet  regards  our  presence  in  the 
Holy  Land  as  a  danger  to  the  State,  for,  like  all  devout 
Moslems,  he  firmly  believes  in  our  political  restoration 
to  the  land  of  our  forefathers,  and  personally  fears  that 
such  restoration  will  take  place  within  the  near  future. 
The  result  is  that  he  has  placed,  and  continues  to  place, 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  growth  of  colonies  there. 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM         93 

He  has  actually  forbidden  the  roofing  in  and  comple- 
tion of  a  synagogue  which  was  being  built  in  "  Rishon 
le-Zion  "  for  the  members  of  that  colony.  Still  he  is 
just  and  friendly,  and  has  the  greatest  confidence  in 
and  esteem  for  M.  Nissim  Behar,  who  is,  I 
should  say,  the  most  influential  person  in  Jerusalem, 
and  deservedly  so.  The  Pasha  only  on  one  occasion 
received  me  in  Oriental  dress,  and  then  apologized  for 
not  being  in  European  garb.  I  am  afraid  I  trespassed 
somewhat  on  his  good  nature ;  the  legal  business  on 
which  I  had  to  see  him  was  troublesome  and  difficult, 
but  he  was  uniformly  gracious.  Still,  his  business 
face  was  much  more  sombre  than  that  he  wore  in 
general  conversation,  and  it  was  quite  a  pleasure  to  see 
his  features  light  up  when  I  complimented  him  on  his 
aedileship.  I  did  this  in  all  sincerity ;  and,  indeed, 
so  far  as  roadmaking  is  concerned,  he  is  a  genuine  old 
Roman.  He  is  projecting  roads  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho,  and  Jaffa  to  Gaza,  and  so  on.  The  engineer 
is  a  M.  Franchetti,  a  Greek,  who  is  well  disposed 
to  our  community,  and  highly  cultured.  The  lines  of 
deviation  of  the  former  road  were  planned  to  pass 
through  the  Jewish  cemetery,  in  the  Valley  of  Jehosha- 
phat;  and,  while  I  was  there,  the  heads  of  the  com- 
munity were  in  some  consternation  about  it,  particu- 
larly as  the  proposed  track  was  already  staked  out. 
The  objection  to  this  desecration  of  the  "  House  of 
Life  "  was  pointed  out  to  the  Pasha  and  his  engineer, 
and  they  both  readily  modified  their  original  plan,  and 
a  slightly  more  devious  path  will  be  adopted  rather 
than  offend  our  susceptibilities.  The  carriage  road  to 
Hebron  is  what  the  Pasha  is  proudest  of,  and,  as  the 
road  passes  Rachel's  Tomb,  I  hope  I  may  be  pardoned 


94  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

for  this  long  digression,  and  permitted  to  return  to 
the  Tomb. 

PRAYERS  AT  RACHEL'S  TOMB 

A  visit  to  the  Tomb  is  the  commonest  of  all  excur- 
sions from  Jerusalem,  as  it  is  the  easiest.  It  was 
barely  a  two  hours'  ride  from  there,  and  now  that  the 
road  has  been  made  so  good  it  is  even  less.  Most  of 
our  Jerusalemite  brethren  visit  it  on  the  eleventh  of 
Marcheshvan,  the  alleged  anniversary  of  Rachel's 
death.  There  is,  I  am  told,  no  authority  for  this  date, 
except  the  Jalkut  Shimeoni  of  the  twelfth  century 
or  thereabout.  This,  the  earliest  collection  of  the 
Midrashim  then  extant,  states  that  Benjamin  was  born 
on  that  day,  but  Rabbi  Simeon  does  not  tell  us  the 
source  from  which  he  derived  this  information.  How- 
ever, the  date  is  not  questioned  by  our  co-religionists, 
and  they  go  on  that  day  to  pray  at  the  grave  of  our 
ancestress.  Unfortunately,  they  are  not  all  free  from 
superstition,  and  occasionally  some  poor  fool,  more 
credulous  than  his  neighbors,  writes  a  petition,  begging 
her  to  intercede  with  the  Almighty  and  give  him  his 
heart's  desire.  This  extraordinary  document  the 
writer  crams  into  the  interstices  of  the  thick  stone  walls 
with  a  long  stick.  I  have  heard  of  a  case  in  which 
one  of  such  petitions  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  young 
English  traveller.  He  fished  it  out  with  his  umbrella, 
and  now  treasures  it  as  a  curiosity  and  a  charm. 
Unfortunately,  the  sentiments  of  malice  and  ill-feeling 
expressed  on  that  particular  petition  do  credit  to  its 
author's  qualities  neither  of  heart  nor  of  mind. 
As  to  the  shape  of  the  building,  I  need  say  nothing; 
most  of  my  readers  are  perfectly  familiar  with  it.  It 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM         95 

is  like  any  other  of  the  numerous  Moslem  Welies — 
white,  cubical  in  form,  and  covered  with  a  dome — 
which  testify  to  the  number  of  Mohammedan  saints 
who  must  once  have  infested  the  country.  The 
Mausoleum  next  the  Ramsgate  Synagogue,  in  which 
Sir  Moses  and  Lady  Montefiore  lie  buried,  is  an  exact 
replica  of  Rachel's  Tomb.  The  original  sepulchre  had 
been  much  dismantled,  but  was  restored  by  Sir  Moses 
during  one  of  the  earliest  of  his  seven  pilgrimages  to 
the  East.  It  is  now  the  property  of  the  Jewish  com- 
munity at  Jerusalem,  and  the  keys  are  held  by  an 
official  of  theirs — the  worthy  Rabbi  Benjamin — who 
lives  in  one  of  the  houses  of  the  "  Meah  Shearim." 

The  white  sarcophagus  inside  the  sepulchre  is  com- 
paratively new,  and  this  and  the  numerous  memorial 
tablets  and  Hebrew  names  of  devotees  written  on  the 
walls  give  it,  internally,  a  most  characteristic  appear- 
ance. One  of  these  tablets  is  not  without  a 
melancholy  interest  for  the  Jewish  communities  of 
Great  Britain.  It  was  placed  there  by  Dr.  Asher, 
whom  we  were  all  so  proud  to  call  our  friend.1  He 
told  me  how,  when  he  and  Samuel  Montagu  visited  it, 
they  were  struck  and  annoyed  by  the  numberless  names 
of  little  great  men  who  had  sought  to  obtain  a  cheap 
immortality  by  inscribing  their  names  on  the  stone 
walls.  It  was  recorded  how  this  community  had 
contributed  so  much  for  the  purchase  of  the  ground ; 
and  that  man  had  done  this,  and  the  other  that.  It 
is  only  too  obvious  that  mutual  admiration  is  a  plant 
which  thrives  on  tropical  soil  equally  as  well  as,  and 

1  Dr.  A.  Ashcr  died  in  January,  i.SSo..     Tic  was  a  founder  and 
the  first  secretary  of  the  United  Synagogue,  London, 


96  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

perhaps  better  than,  in  temperate  England  itself.  What 
most  astonished  Dr.  Asher  was  the  total  absence  of  any 
reference  to  Rachel  herself.  Her  name  was  nowhere 
mentioned,  although  all  was  but  in  her  honor. 
Accordingly  he  had  a  marble  tablet  erected  and  en- 
graved with  a  Hebrew  inscription,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  a  translation: — 

"  A  voice  zuas  heard  in  Ramah,  lamentation,  and 
bitter  weeping;  Rachel  zveeping  for  her  children  re- 
fuseth  to  be  comforted  for  her  children,  because  they 
are  not. 

"  Thus  saith  the  Lord:  Refrain  thy  voice  from  weep- 
ing, and  thine  eyes  from  tears;  for  thy  work  shall  be 
rewarded,  saith  the  Lord;  and  they  shall  come  again 
from  the  land  of  the  enemy." 

"  This  stone  was  set  up  by  one  of  Rachel's  children, 
who  hath  come  from  a  distant  land." 

The  anonymity  of  the  inscription  is  one  of  those 
silent  life-lessons  which  its  author  was  always  giving 
us.  His  love  for  the  Holy  Land  was  ever  ardent,  and 
if  at  times  he  had  to  combat  abuses,  and  be  himself 
abused,  he  always  spoke  and  wrote  in  a  kindly  spirit, 
and  in  the  hope  of  affecting  an  improvement  in  the 
condition  of  our  brethren  there.  He  himself  has  now, 
alas,  gone  to  another  Distant  Land ;  but  he  lived  long 
enough  to  see  much  of  his  hope  realized,  and  realized 
to  a  great  extent  through  his  own  outspoken  home- 
truths.  We  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again.  May 
his  work  also  be  rewarded ! 

BETHLEHEM 

About  four  o'clock  on  Monday  morning,  the  ist 
October,  1888,  we  started  for  Hebron.  The  expedition 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM         97 

was  to  cost  me  forty  francs,  but  then  I  travelled  in 
grand  style.  There  are  wagons  which  ply  daily  on  the 
new  carriage  road  between  Jerusalem  and  Hebron,  and 
the  fare — for  natives — is  only  three  francs  a  head.  My 
dragoman  had  a  lovely  Arab  horse,  whose  gentle  amble 
and  easy  canter  were  very  much  preferable  to  the  jolts 
and  shakes  of  the  carriage  and  three  provided  by  mine 
host,  the  excellent  Mr.  Kaminitz.  Everybody  knows 
De  Quincey's  story  of  the  Emperor  of  China  who, 
finding  the  box  of  the  state  carriage  presented  to  him 
by  the  English  Ambassador  infinitely  more  gorgeous 
than  the  sober  velvet  inside,  thought  that  box  his 
place,  and  made  his  coachman  sit  within  and  drive 
by  means  of  jury  reins  passed  through  the  front 
windows.  The  result  was  a  somewhat  unsteady  pro- 
gress, which  led  his  Imperial  Majesty  to  think  driving 
a  failure,  and  so  he  dedicated  England's  gift  to  the 
gods,  and  the  chariot  is  still  to  be  seen  among  the 
treasures  of  some  temple  at  Pekin.  The  hint  was  not 
lost  on  me,  and  when,  on  my  solitary  rambles  on  the 
Continent,  I  had  occasion  to  charter  a  pair-horse 
Droschke  to  take  me  the  round  of  the  palaces  of 
Potsdam,  not  having  any  guide  with  me,  I  thought 
the  best  thing  I  could  do  was  to  sit  beside  my  coach- 
man and  leave  the  body  of  the  coach  untenanted. 
He  thought  me  mad,  but  to  be  thought  mad  is  John 
Bull's  privilege  abroad.  So,  too,  on  this  occasion  my 
dread  of  such  an  impression  being  confirmed  in  Pales- 
tine did  not  deter  me  from  changing  places  with  my 
own  dragoman,  and  acting  as  his  equerry.  We  said 
the  morning  prayer  at  Rachel's  Tomb  as  the  sun  rose, 
then  made  a  hasty  meal,  and  proceeded  on  our  way. 
After  riding  about  half  an  hour  we  departed  from  the 


98  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

road  and  diverged  to  the  left  toward  Bethlehem. 
Despite  the  earliness  of  the  hour  we  found  the  famous 
city  full  of  busy  Bedouins  and  peasants,  for  it  is  the 
market  town  of  the  neighborhood  for  miles  around. 
The  population  is  almost  exclusively  Christian,  and  the 
inhabitants  are  distinguished  by  their  good  looks  and 
rather  Greek  features.  No  doubt,  there  is  a  large 
admixture  of  Crusaders'  blood  in  their  veins.  In  1831 
the  Moslems  were  expelled  from  the  town,  and  they 
have  never  since  returned  in  any  numbers.  With  the 
exception  of  one  man,  there  is  absolutely  no  Jew 
residing  there.  The  exception  is,  curiously  enough, 
the  doctor.  The  whole  town  has  the  most  perfect 
confidence  in  and  liking  for  him,  but  even  he  always 
spends  Friday  to  Sunday  in  Jerusalem,  with  his  wife 
and  family.  Of  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  and  the 
Chapel  of  the  Nativity,  and  the  other  sights  of  Beth- 
lehem, I  do  not  propose  to  say  anything.  The  Greeks, 
Latins,  and  Armenians  there  are  always  quarrelling 
about  their  holy  sites,  and  however  silly  their  strife 
may  seem  to  us,  we  must  not  forget  that,  even  in  our 
own  times,  the  second  biggest  war  of  the  century — the 
Crimean — was  directly  occasioned  by  a  similar  dispute 
about  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in  Jerusalem. 

THE  CAVE  OF  ADULLAM 

At  nine  o'clock  we  left  Bethlehem.  My  dragoman 
and  the  rest  of  the  party  returned  to  the  carriage  and 
drove  comfortably  to  Hebron,  which  they  reached  in 
three  hours.  I  had  a  good  map  with  me,  and  deter- 
mined to  pick  my  way  across  country,  past  the  marble 
ruins  of  Herodium,  Frank  Mountain,  and  the  cave  of 
Adullam.  The  lonely  eight  hours'  ride  through  the 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM         99 

wilderness  of  Judah  was  itself  worth  the  whole  jour- 
ney to  the  East.  I  got  a  severe  scolding  from  our 
Consul  afterwards  for  venturing  to  go  about  in  the 
solitary  wilds  without  a  Bedouin  escort,  and  the  guide 
books  proclaim  that,  it  is  impossible  to  do  so.  All 
I  can  say  is,  that  I  did  not  find  a  single  lion  on  the 
path,  nor  meet  a  single  hostile  Arab.  The  footfall  of 
my  horse  disturbed  countless  numbers  of  lizards,  and 
one  or  two  scorpions  which  had  come  to  bask  on  the 
red  rocks,  in  the  fierce  noonday  sun,  but,  beyond  these, 
for  hours  I  saw  no  living  creature.  Near  what  must 
have  been  Tekoah  were  huge  boulders  of  smooth 
white  limestone  and  marble  upon  which  my  horse, 
albeit  sure-footed  as  a  cat,  seemed  to  find  it  difficult 
to  step  without  slipping.  Evidently,  the  natural  store- 
house of  fine  stone  here  would  repay  capitalists 
as  well  as  the  famous  Numidian  quarries  do.  A 
fatiguing  and  somewhat  dangerous  climb  brought  one 
to  a  height  of  about  four  thousand  feet,  where  a  fine 
view  of  the  hills  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead 
Sea  disclosed  itself.  After  making  frequent  obser- 
vations with  compass  and  aneroid  to  determine  my 
position,  I  at  last  found  my  way  into  a  lateral  valley, 
opening  out  from  the  Jebel  Ferdis,  and  descended  into 
a  deep  gorge. 

The  frowning  cliffs  on  either  side  made  the  scene 
unspeakably  imposing,  and  the  consciousness  that  one 
was  on  the  very  theatre  of  David's  adventures,  during 
the  most  romantic  episode  of  his  career,  peopled  the 
whole  country  with  the  shadows  of  the  past.  Accord- 
ingly, after  carefully  turning  a  sharp  corner  where  the 
cliff  took  an  abrupt  turn  to  the  left  and  then  to  the 
right  again,  it  seemed  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 


ioo  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

world  to  come  upon  a  small  camp  of  Bedouins, 
clustered  round  two  little  springs  of  water,  which  rose 
in  the  angle  formed  by  the  double  bend  of  the  rocky 
wall.  The  Arabs  looked  just  like  the  pictures  in  our 
familiar  Scripture  books,  and  were  doubtless  dressed 
in  similar  garb  to  what  they  have  worn  for  the  last 
four  thousand  years.  I  rode  up  to  them,  and  despite 
the  incongruity  hastened  to  give  them  each  a  cigarette. 
After  that  I  felt  reassured  about  their  intentions,  be- 
cause the  Arab  is  not  civilized  enough  to  betray  a  man 
after  eating  of  his  salt  or  smoking  of  his  weed.  I 
dismounted,  and  one  of  them  hospitably  attempted  to 
make  my  horse  drink,  as  they  were  drinking,  from  the 
tiny  pools.  The  noble  steed  must-  have  been  very 
thirsty, — its  rider  was, — but  yet  it  resolutely  declined 
the  water,  and  persisted  in  its  refusal,  until  one  kind- 
hearted  son  of  the  desert  doffed  his  turban,  filled  it  with 
water,  and  lifted  it  to  the  horse's  mouth.  The  novel 
bucket  may  have  improved  the  water's  flavor,  it  cer- 
tainly disguised  the  color,  and  anyhow  the  horse 
refused  no  longer.  After  this  success,  I  thought  I 
would  try  the  water,  too,  and  so  I  did,  but  my  first 
mouthful  was  my  last,  and  from  another  such  a  sip 
may  J  be  delivered !  The  experience  of  that  awful 
taste  elucidated  to  me  how  real  David's  longing  must 
have  been,  when  he  jeopardized  the  lives  of  the  three 
warriors  whom  he  sent  for  Bethlehem  water,  with 
which  to  wash  the  taste  out  of  his  mouth.  The  story 
is  told  in  II  Samuel  xxiii.  13-17: 

And  three  of  the  thirty  chief  went  down,  and  came  to 
David  in  the  harvest  time  unto  the  Cave  of  Adullam ;  and  the 
troop  of  the  Philistines  pitched  in  the  valley  of  Rephaim.  And 
David  was  then  in  the  hold,  and  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM       101 

was  then  in  Bethlehem.  And  David  longed,  and  said,  Oh  that 
one  would  give  me  drink  of  the  water  of  the  Well  of  Bethle- 
hem, that  is  by  the  gate !  And  the  three  mighty  men  brake 
through  the  host  of  the  Philistines,  and  drew  water  out  of  the 
Well  of  Bethlehem,  that  was  by  the  gate,  and  took  it,  and 
brought  it  to  David :  nevertheless  he  would  not  drink  thereof, 
but  poured  it  out  unto  the  Lord.  And  he  said,  Be  it  far  from 
me,  O  Lord,  that  I  should  do  this :  is  not  this  the  blood  of  the 
men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of  their  lives?  Therefore  he  would 
not  drink  it.  These  things  did  the  three  mighty  men. 

This  and  other  indications  convinced  me  that  I 
must  be  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  very 
<:ave  in  which  David  took  refuge  during  his  guerrilla 
warfare,  first  with  Saul,  and  then  with  the  Philistines. 
Accordingly,  in  broken  Arabic,  I  asked  my  dusky 
friends  whether  there  was  not  some  wonderful  hole  in 
the  earth  somewhere  near.  They  nodded  acquiescence, 
and  then  offered  to  show  me  the  way.  Three  brawny 
fellows,  strong  as  the  Arabs  of  the  Pyramids,  con- 
ducted me  up  what  seemed  the  most  terrible  of 
precipices.  But  for  the  tennis  shoes  I  was  luckily 
wearing,  I  could  never  have  preserved  my  footing; 
but,  at  last,  after  a  climb  of  about  ten  minutes,  we 
reached  the  narrow  entrance  to  the  cave,  which  ex- 
panded like  a  funnel.  Unfortunately,  we  were  unable 
to  see  anything  but  the  darkness  around  us.  My  last 
match  had  been  smoked  away,  and  our  only  light  was 
an  occasional  spark  from  the  flint  and  tinder  with 
which  the  Arabs  bid  defiance  to  Bryant  and  to  May. 
I  did  not,  however,  penetrate  very  far  into  the  gloomy 
hollow  of  the  mountain,  and  I  was  not  sorry  to  return 
to  the  light  of  day. 


102  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

ARTAS 

I  remounted,  took  leave  of  my  friends,  and  one  of 
them  guided  me  to  Artas,  a  village  in  the  valley  oasis 
fertilized  by  Solomon's  Pools.  These  wonderful  res- 
ervoirs, with  their  aqueducts  carried  along 'the  moun- 
tain slopes,  are  remarkably  successful,  and  prove  how 
remunerative  waterworks  would  be.  Artas  provides 
Jerusalem  with  all  its  fruit  and  vegetables,  and  the 
whole  village  is  one  large  smiling  garden,  which  the 
traveller  is  loth  to  quit. 

Unfortunately,  the  shade  of  the  palms  had  to  be 
left,  and  I  had  to  ride  disconsolately  on  across  the 
Wady,  and  mount  the  hill  on  the  other  side,  as  far  as 
the  old  caravan  track  to  Hebron.  Here  I  passed  some 
hundred  camels,  and  pressed  on  till  I  came  to  the  car- 
riage-road. It  was  past  four  in  the  afternoon,  and  I  had 
to  gallop  to  make  up  for  lost  time.  The  nearer  one  got 
to  the  city,  the  more  people  were  to  be  seen  on  the 
road.  When  about  a  mile  from  the  gates,  I  was  met 
by  Bezaleel  Kaminitz  and  the  beadle  of  the  Hebron 
community,  on  horseback,  who  came  cantering  along. 
They  had  been  sent  by  the  Congregation  to  raise  the 
hue  and  cry,  for  I  had  tarried  so  long  in  my  coming 
that  they  feared  I  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Be- 
douins. I  did  not  stop,  and  Bezaleel,  who  is  an  expert 
horseman,  wheeled  round  in  fine  style,  but  the  beadle 
was  less  fortunate.  His  horse  threw  him,  but  he 
soon  got  on  again,  and  onward  he  galloped,  I  galloped, 
we  galloped  all  three.  An  estimable  and  well-to-do 
Turkish  merchant  dressed  in  silks  and  satins  was 
soberly  ambling  along,  on  a  large  white  donkey,  in  a 
reverse  direction  to  ourselves.  His  donkey,  uneasy  at 


*  I 

THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM       103 

the  pattering  of  our  dozen  hoofs,  pricked  up  his  ears 
and  turned  tail.  His  respectable  rider  seemed  surprised, 
and  fell  off.  Hebron,  though  nearly  three  thousand 
feet  high,  lies  in  a  narrow  valley,  between  the  moun- 
tains. The  descent  from  the  northwest  is  rather 
steep,  and  owing  to  the  rapidity  of  our  progress,  our 
horses  were  sometimes  sliding  down,  almost  on  their 
haunches.  It  was  not  convenient  to  stop,  and  so  we  had 
to  leave  the  Turk  to  pick  himself  up  as  best  he  could. 
We  rode  on  and  reached  Hebron  upon  the  stroke  of 
five,  the  beadle  had  a  final  tumble  from  his  steed,  and 
thus  we  arrived  at  our  journey's  end. 


HEBRON,  THE  DEAD  SEA,  AND  THE  JORDAN 

The  City  of  Friendship  —  Machpelah  —  The  Jews  of  Hebron  — 
A  Night  Ride  —  A  Caravansary  —  Jericho  —  The  Dead 
Sea  —  The  Jordan. 

THE  CITY  OF  FRIENDSHIP 

HEBRON,  or  Khalil,  the  "  City  of  Friendship,"  is  per- 
haps the  oldest  city  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  in  interest 
it  vies  with  Jerusalem  itself.  Among  us  Jews  it  is 
reverently  described  as  max  nap,  "  the  Burial  Ground 
of  our  Fathers,"  and  a  pilgrimage  thither  is 
highly  esteemed.  The  Mohammedans  regard  it  with 
even  more  reverence  as  a  sacred  place  than  Jerusalem, 
for  is  it  not  the  last  resting-place  of  Abraham — el 
Khalil  Allah — the  friend  of  God  and  His  great 
prophet?  Their  regard,  although  flattering  to  the 
founder  of  our  race,  carries  with  it  the  disadvantage 
that  it  makes  the  Hebronites  the  most  fanatical  of  the 
followers  of  Islam,  and  the  most  intolerant.  Chris- 
tians cannot  live  at  Hebron,  and  Jews  there  are  treated 
as  dogs.  Curses  both  loud  and  deep  greeted  us  as  we 
walked  round  the  Great  Mosque,  which  encloses  the 
Cave  of  Machpelah ;  but,  as  we  did  not  understand  the 
meaning  of  the  imprecations  or  appreciate  the  delicacy 
or  appropriateness  of  the  choice  epithets  applied 
to  us,  and,  as  the  missiles  thrown  at  us  were  not  well 
aimed,  we  could  afford  to  treat  our  reception  with 
amused  nonchalance.  Nowhere  in  the  East  did  I  meet 
with  such  bigotry  as  at  Hebron,  and  it  did  not  surprise 
me  to  learn  that  Dr.  Stein,  the  medical  man  whom  we 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  105 

sent  out  there  some  time  ago,  has  no  Mohammedans 
among  his  clientele,  because  the  Hebronites,  unlike  the 
Mohammedans  who  live  in  Jerusalem  and  elsewhere 
are  too  utter  fatalists  to  believe  that  medicine  can  ar- 
rest the  progress  of  disease  or  the  angel  of  death. 
Though  the  local  government  there  and  in  the  neigh- 
boring villages  employs  him  occasionally,  it  is  merely 
as  a  coroner  to  inspect  a  corpse  or  hold  an  inquest  and 
certify  the  cause  of  death !  Still  he  is  honored  with  the 
title  of  Government  Physician,  and  though  his  services 
are  gratuitous,  the  fact  that  they  are  accepted  adds  to 
his  influence.  He  is  extremely  well  liked  by  the  Jews, 
and  they  were  unanimous  in  his  praise.  Dr.  Stein 
takes  great  interest  in  the  climatology  of  his  station,' 
and  asked  me  to  apply  for  him  to  the  Meteorolo- 
gical Office  for  Barometer,  Thermometer,  and  Rain 
Gauge.  I  ascertained  that,  for  years  past,  no  obser- 
vations had  been  made  nearer  than  Beyrout,  and  Mr. 
Reginald  Scott,  the  Secretary  of  the  office,  gladly 
submitted  my  request  to  the  Council.  However,  they 
could  not  accede  to  it,  because  Hebron  is  not  a  sea- 
port nor  its  weather  likely  to  affect  navigation. 
Hebron  is  the  first  town  seen  by  the  wanderer  who 
reaches  Palestine  by  way  of  the  Desert  of  Sinai. 
Even  the  most  phlegmatic  of  temperaments  cannot  fail 
to  be  deeply  impressed  by  a  pilgrimage  to  the  last 
resting-place  of  the  Patriarchs.  But  quite  apart  from 
considerations  of  sentiment,  the  beauty  of  its  position 
and  almost  English  verdure  of  the  slopes  which  sur- 
round it  make  Hebron  pre-eminent.  It  is,  therefore,  by 
no  means  surprising  to  find  that  Dean  Stanley  and 
other  writers  are  quite  poetical  in  describing  the  con- 
trast between  the  wilderness  of  rocks  one  has  to 


io6  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

traverse  for  many  days,  and  the  fertility  of  the  well- 
watered  valley  in  which  it  lies.  The  prevailing  color 
of  the  surrounding  cliffs  is  purple,  and  the  Mohamme- 
dans say  that  from  the  red  earth  of  Hebron,  Adam,  the 
first  man,  was  formed,  and  that  thence  he  derived  his 
name.  The  connection  thus  made  between  Adam  and 
Edom,  or  Esau,  the  traditional  patriarch  of  the  Arabs 
of  Syria,  is  worthy  of  note.  That  Adam  was  also 
buried  here,  both  Talmudical  and  Mohammedan 
legends  agree.  Its  early  name — Kiriat  Arba — which 
might  mean  "  the  City  of  the  Four  Patriarchs,"  is 
pointed  to  as  evidence  in  favor  of  that  hypothesis. 

MACHPELAH 

The  mosque,  built  of  red  and  white  marble,  is  almost 
square,  and  its  four  minarets,  one  rising  from  each 
corner,  give  it  a  characteristic  appearance.  The  mas- 
sive smooth-hewn  stones  of  the  enclosing  wall  re- 
mind one  of  the  ruins  of  the  Temple,  and  the  sixty 
square  buttresses  and  cornices  all  around  remain  to 
show  us  how  strongly  fortified  it  must  have  been  at 
the  time  when  the  Crusaders  were  borrowing  territo- 
rial titles  from  Hebron,  and  the  Saracens  were  winning 
back  the  territory  itself.  Like  all  the  holy  places  it 
has  passed  through  many  vicissitudes,  and  had  been 
both  temple  and  church  before  Saladin  made  a  mosque 
out  of  it.  Into  the  Mosque  itself,  no  Giaour  is  per- 
mitted to  enter  without  the  Sultan's  special  firman. 
This  was  obtained  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  when  he 
went  there  in  1862,  and  the  visit  is  graphically  de- 
scribed in  Stanley's  "  Sinai  and  Palestine."  But  with- 
out a  firman  the  most  powerful  persuasives  will  not 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  107 

secure  an  entrance.  Even  Baron  and  Baroness  Ed- 
mond  de  Rothschild  could  not  succeed  in  getting  the 
Pasha  of  Palestine  to  admit  them  on  his  own  responsi- 
bility, and  so,  although  they  travelled  by  land  all  over 
Palestine,  Hebron  they  did  not  visit.  And  Mr.  Benn 
Levy  has  told  me  that  a  bribe  of  five  hundred  pounds 


THE  GREAT  MOSQUE  AT  MACHPELAH 

was  not  sufficient  to  make  the  Governor  of  Hebron,  or 

the  Sheikh  of  the  Mosque,  stretch  a  point  in  his  case.1 

•  In  a  corner  of  the  enclosing  wall,  near  the  lofty 

entrance  which  fronts  the  Mosque,  is  a  small  gap  built 

1  It  was  the  writer's  privilege  to  enter  the  Mosque  in  dis- 
guise and  without  bakhshish  in  i8°-5-     See  below,  pp.  137-8. 


io8 


up  with  smooth  stones,  but  leaving  sufficient  space  for 
a  man  to  crawl  through.  This  unofficial  entrance 
leads  to  the  subterranean  chambers,  and  on  the  eve  of 
our  festivals  we  Jews  are  permitted  to  come  here  to 
pray,  as  we  do  at  the  Wailing  Place  at  Jerusalem.  Of 
course,  we  are  not  permitted  to  go  down  the  narrow 
passage  into  the  world-old  vault  or  cave  below,  but 
there  are  not  unnaturally  many  Jewish  folk-tales 
which  cluster  round  the  spot.  Ludwig  A.  Frankl,  for 
instance,  gives  the  origin  of  the  "  Purim  Taka,"  or 
"  window  Purim,"  still  celebrated  by  the  Sephardic 
Jews  of  Hebron  on  the  anniversary  of  their  deliver- 
ance from  an  intolerable  tax.  It  appears  that  once 
there  was  a  Pasha  there  who  was  very  fond  of  money. 
Fired  by  the  memory  of  the  methods  of  King  Richard 
the  Lion-Hearted,  or  perhaps  of  his  own  sweet  initia- 
tive, for  great  minds  think  alike,  His  Excellency 
determined . to  get  money  out  of  his  Jewish  subjects. 
He  demanded  fifty  thousand  piastres  under  threat  of 
killing  the  leading  members  of  the  community  and 
selling  the  rest  into  slavery.  The  Rabbis  were 
direly  perplexed,  for  they  could  not  scrape  the 
sum  together.  At  last,  they  could  think  of  no  other 
expedient  than  to  write  to  the  Patriarchs  about  their 
trouble.  They  did  so,  and  bribed  the  watchman  of 
the  Mosque  to  lower  the  petition  by  a  string 
into  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  for,  of  course,  even 
he  dared  not  enter  there.  That  night  the  Pasha 
woke  up  and,  at  his  bedside,  found  three  venerable 
looking  sages,  who  demanded  fifty  thousand  piastres 
'of  him,  and  threatened  him  with  death  if  he  did  not 
pay.  The  Pasha  saw  that  they  were  in  earnest,  went 
to  his  money-bags,  and  paid  the  fifty  thousand  to  the 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  109 

three  weird  old  men.  Next  morning,  at  break  of  day, 
the  Pasha's  soldiers  come  to  the  Jewish  quarter  to 
fetch  the  fifty  thousand  subsidy  he  levied  upon 
them.  The  Jews  are  all  in  synagogue,  praying,  for 
they  know  their  last  hour  has  come.  The  soldiers 
knock  at  the  door,  and  the  beadle  hurries  to  open  it, 
when  he  notices  a  bag  of  money  in  the  hall,  just  where 
the  people  wash  their  hands  before  entering  the  syna- 
gogue. He  brings  it  to  the  Parnas,  who  hands  it 
to  the  Pasha.  The  Pasha  recognizes  both  purse  and 
money  as  his  own,  and  declares  that  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob  themselves  rose  from  their  grave  to 
keep  him  from  an  evil  deed,  and  that  the  Jews  must, 
indeed,  be  a  people  dear  to  Allah,  if  the  Patriarchs, 
after  so  many  thousands  of  years,  would  come  to  life 
again  merely  to  protect  them  from  injury.  He  makes 
the  community  a  present  of  the  money,  but  requires 
them  to  promise  to  pray  for  him  if  ever  he  should  be 
in  trouble.  There  are  elements  of  truth  in  this  story, 
and  obviously  it  is  capable  of  a  very  rational  expla- 
nation. 

THE  JEWS  OF  HEBRON 

The  community  used  to  be  very  small,  and  even  in 
1888  numbered  barely  a  thousand  souls  out  of  a  total 
population  of  ten  times  that  number.  About  the  year 
1265  Nachmanides  went  to  Palestine,  and  a  short  letter 
he  wrote  to  his  son  Nachman  gives  us  a  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  Palestine  as  it  was  left  after  the  Crusades.  "  In 
one  word,"  he  says,  "  the  unhappy  rule  seems  to  be 
that  the  holier  a  place  may  have  been,  the  more  deso- 
late it  is."  Jerusalem  was  in  ruins,  and  what  had  been 
marble  places,  were  then  Hefker,  waste  or  common 


i  io  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

lands,  free  to  be  appropriated  by  anybody  who  pleased. 
There  was  only  a  single  Minyan  of  Jews  there,  who 
every  Sabbath  met  in  their  houses  for  prayer.  He 
persuaded  them  to  set  apart  one  of  the  less  demolished 
buildings  as  a  synagogue,  and  they  actually  sent  to 
Shechem  (Nablous)  for  a  Sepher.  He  also  went  to 
Hebron,  "  the  city  of  the  graves  of  our  forefathers, 
that  I  might  pray  there,  and  buy  myself  a  grave,  and 
there  be  buried."  In  those  times  there  was  not  a 
single  Jew  there.  But  a  hundred  years  before,  when 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  visited  it  in  1170,  he  found  a  few 
of  our  co-religionists  living  there,  and,  indeed,  went 
down  with  some  to  the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  which  he 
describes  and  which  was  evidently  not  guarded  so  jeal- 
ously in  his  time  as  it  is  now.  Nowadays,  there  are 
about  as  many  Ashkenazim  as  Sephardim,  and 
each  community  has  three  synagogues.  The  Ashke- 
nazim have  no  provision  whatever  for  education,  but 
there  are  about  sixty  pupils  in  the  Talmud  Torah  of 
the  Sephardim.  It  would  be  highly  desirable  if  the 
Alliance  Israelite  or  the  Anglo-Jewish  Association 
would  see  its  way  to  establishing  a  school  there  of 
even  the  humblest  dimensions.  I  gathered  from  the 
communal  leaders  that  this  they  anxiously  desired, 
and  that,  though  poor,  they  would  gladly  contribute 
to  the  support  of  such  a  school. 

The  Sephardi  Chacham  is  Rachmim  Franko,  and  the 
Ashkenazi  Rabbi,  R.  Simeon  Manasseh  Schlutzker, 
who  is  over  ninety  years  old.  There  is  only  one  Jew — 
a  Mr.  Romano — of  even  moderate  means  in  the  town, 
and  he  is  rather  an  absentee  landlord,  for  he  lives  the 
greater  part  of  the  year  in  Constantinople.  He  owns 
a  fine  large  house,  of  course  of  stone,  and  the  ban- 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  1 1 1 

queting  hall  on  the  first  floor  would  not  disgrace  a 
Norman  Castle.  He  is  very  hospitable,  and  Jewish 
guests  are  brought  to  his  house  quite  as  a  matter  of 
course  to  be  boarded  and  lodged  if  necessary,  just  as 
though  it  were  an  hotel.  Neither  payment  nor  a 
present  is  accepted,  but  one  is  expected  to  contribute 
to  the  anon  mS'oa  msn,  the  local  "  Society  for  Good 
Works,"  which,  of  course,  one  is  only  too  glad  to  do. 
Jerusalem,  Hebron,  Safed,  and  Tiberias  constitute 
the  four  "  holy  cities  "  of  the  Jews,  and  till  coloniza- 
tion had  altered  matters,  nearly  all  the  Holy  Land 
Jews  resided  in  them.  In  Safed  they  constitute  one- 
half  of  the  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  and  in  Tiberias 
they  number  three  thousand  out  of  five  thousand. 
Besides  these,  there  are  a  thousand  Jews  in  Haifa,  a 
thousand  in  Sidon,  and  two  thousand  in  Jaffa,  out  of 
a  total  of  six,  twelve,  and  fifteen  thousand  respectively. 
There  are  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  Jews  out  of  ten 
thousand  in  Acre,  one  hundred  and  twenty  at 
Shechem  out  of  eighteen  thousand,  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty  at  Gaza  out  of  twenty  thousand.  Includ- 
ing four  thousand  colonists,  which  is  perhaps  an  over- 
estimate, it  would  seem  that,  notwithstanding  the 
recent  immigration  of  Russian  and  Roumanian  Jews, 
there  are  not  more  than  43,500  of  our  co-religionists 
in  Palestine  out  of  a  total  population  of  over  half  a 
million. 

A  NIGHT  RIDE 

One  Monday  night  about  nine  o'clock  we  left  the 
Hotel  Jerusalem  for  the  Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea. 
We  were  a  small  but  imposing  caravan.  First  came 
our  Bedouin  escort,  Sheikh  of  the  village  of  Abu  Dis, 


ii2  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

whose  services  we  had  engaged  through  the  inter- 
vention of  H.  B.  M.  Consul.  Then  there  was  Drago- 
man Khalil,  who  was  ostensibly  in  charge  of  the  expe- 
dition. Next  to  him  came  the  hotel-keeper's  son, 
Bezaleel  Kaminitz,  my  alter  ego  and  fidus  Achates, 
who  never  left  me  out  of  sight  from  the  time  of  my 
arrival  in  Jerusalem  till  my  re-embarkation  at  Jaffa. 
Next  came  the  muleteer  Selim,  whose  mule  was  laden 
with  good  things,  sufficient  in  amount  as  it  seemed  to 
me  for  forty  days'  and  forty  nights'  wandering  in  the 
desert,  but  appetite  surpassed  expectation,  and,  like 
^Esop  with  the  bread  basket,  Selim  returned  very  much 
lighter  than  he  went.  All  but  myself  were  armed  to 
the  teeth,  and  the  water  bottles  hanging  from  our 
saddles  made  me  feel  quite  an  explorer.  Khalil  was 
very  proud  of  his  gun,  and  after  break  of  day  kept 
pointing  it  in  all  directions.  There  was  plenty  of 
game  about,  and  no  game  laws,  and  he  was  determined 
to  do  wonderful  things  in  the  slaughter  of  innocents. 
He  stalked  a  good  many  sandgrouse,  and  once,  in  the 
plain  of  Jericho,  his  ambition  soared  even  to  a  royal 
eagle,  but  his  success  was  limited  to  the  destruction  of 
powder  and  shot  and  to  frightening  me.  I  had  no  mind 
to  be  his  quarry,  and,  as  we  cantered  on,  language  not 
altogether  without  strength  was  required  to  persuade 
him  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  me  to  look  down 
the  barrels  of  his  gun  to  know  that  he  was  using  ball 
instead  of  shot !  The  muleteer  was  musical,  and  albeit 
the  melody  was  but  a  nasal  twang,  and  his  theme  the 
excellence  of  the  food  he  carried,  the  song  of  Selim 
lent  an  air  of  romance  to  the  expedition.  It  did  not 
need  this  to  make  our  midnight  ride  delightful.  It  is 
hopeless  to  attempt  adequately  to  describe  the  glory  of 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  113 

the  starry  night  with  the  bright  eyes  of  countless  angels 
beaming  sympathy  with  man.  We  felt  in  no  talkative 
mood,  and,  once  started,  soon  dropped  into  single  file 
and  gave  our  thoughts  full  rein.  Of  such  a  night 
in  the  Holy  Land,  Thackeray  writes  that  the  recol- 
lection of  its  sensations  must  remain  with  a  man  as 
long  as  his  memory  lasts,  and  he  should  feel  them  as 
often  as  he  should  talk  of  them  little. 

We  skirted  the  Mount  of  Olives,  passed  Bethany, 
and  rode  slowly  on  from  one  gorge  to  another,  occa- 
sionally climbing  a  hill,  but  for  the  most  part  descend- 
ing the  bed  of  some  dried-up  torrent  or  Wady.  The 
bridle  path  was  rugged  in  the  extreme,  and  dangerous 
in  parts,  so  that  we  had  several  times  to  dismount 
and  lead  our  horses  by  the  bridle.  Yet  every  now  and 
then  we  came  across  traces  of  the  old  Roman  road  to 
Jericho,  which  proved  that  time  was  when,  despite  the 
considerable  fall  of  nearly  four  thousand  feet  in  the 
twenty  miles  or  so  which  separate  Jerusalem  from 
Jericho,  they  could  not  have  been  much  more  than 
a  three  hours'  ride  from  one  another. 

A  CARAVANSARY 

About  half-way  there,  we  reached  a  khan,  or  cara- 
vansary, with  two  huge  portals,  which  looked  as  though 
they  barred  the  way  to  some  mighty  building  behind 
them.  We  thundered  at  the  gates  and  made  as  much 
noise  as  we  could,  but  not  the  slightest  notice  was  taken 
of  us.  This  confirmed  me  in  my  belief  that  here  was 
an  enchanted  castle,  but  that  I  was  not  to  be  the 
lucky  one  to  wake  the  sleeping  beauty.  Khalil  grew 
impatient  and  fired  his  gun,  but  still  no  answer  came. 
Our  horses  required  a  little  rest,  and  so  there  was 


ii4  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

nothing  for  it  but  to  dismount  and  lie  down  on  the 
naked  rock.  I  never  slept  so  sound  in  my  life,  and, 
though  they  woke  me  up  in  less  than  half  an  hour,  I 
felt  as  refreshed  as  though  I  had  had  a  whole  night's 
rest.  The  following  afternoon  we  passed  the  Hadrur 
Khan  again  on  our  way  back.  This  time,  after  some 
parleying,  we  gained  admittance,  and  found  that  the 
entire  garrison  consisted  of  but  one  poor  old  Arab, 
who  lived  in  a  dismantled  little  shanty  in  the  corner  of 
a  large  and  empty  courtyard  surrounded  by  high  stone 
walls.  If  there  were  any  pigs  in  Palestine,  which,  ex- 
cept in  one  or  two  monasteries,  there  are  not,  I  should 
have  taken  it  for  a  pig-sty.  Mine  host  was  very  atten- 
tive and  made  us  Turkish  coffee  as  best  he  could.  He 
admitted  that  he  had  heard  us  the  night  before,  but  had 
taken  us  for  Bedouins,  of  whom  he  lived  in  terror 
of  his  life.  He  showed  us  the  inner  door  of  the  shanty 
all  riddled  with  shot,  and  assured  us  that  he  had  at  one 
time  been  regularly  besieged  and  all  but  captured  and 
slain,  for  the  sake  of  the  two  or  three  pewter  blisk-lik 
coins  he  possessed. 

JERICHO 

We  rode  onward  on  our  journey  till  we  came  to 
the  Sultan's  Spring,  perhaps  the  very  same  as  that 
which  Elisha's  handful  of  salt  had  sweetened.  This, 
or  the  "  Pool  of  Moses  "  close  by,  must  have  been  in- 
tended as  the  scene  of  the  famous  interview  in  "  The 
Talisman  "  between  Saladin  and  the  Prince  of  Scot- 
land. A  few  minutes  further  on  we  rode  through  one 
of  the  noble  arches  of  Herod's  aqueduct,  which  boldly 
traverses  the  plain,  and  stopped  awhile  to  admire  the 
massive  ruins.  Soon  we  reached  the  Russian  Hospice 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  1 15 

in  Jericho,  where  we  arrived  about  three  in  the  morning. 
The  approach  to  the  world-famous  or  infamous  place, 
once  a  love  gift  from  Antony  to  Cleopatra,  was  through 
thick  vegetation,  which  reminded  me  of  some  Surrey 
wood  more  than  anything  else.  I  know  this  will  be 
regarded  as  a  fault  in  local  coloring,  but  really  I  saw 
no  trace  of  the  famous  palms  or  roses  or  balsam  gard- 
ens with  which  tradition  glorifies  Jericho.  The  vege- 
tation is  tropical  because  the  natural  depression  of  the 
plain  and,  indeed,  of  the  whole  of  the  gigantic  fissures 
constituting  the  valley  of  the  lower  Jordan,  makes  the 
climate  and  temperature  that  of  places  fifteen  degrees 
nearer  the  equator.  In  the  garden  of  the  Hospice 
grow  bananas  and  figs  and  clustering  grapes  as  in 
Egypt,  but  it  is  the  fields  of  maize  and  other  cereals, 
and  the  drooping  willows,  and  scarlet  flowers  of  the 
gum-arabic  plant  that  most  impress  the  traveller. 
The  Hospice  itself  contains  rude  wood-cut  portraits  of 
the  Czar  and  other  Russians,  but  is  conspicuous  for  the 
absence  of  monks.  It  is  intended  for  the  shelter  of 
pilgrims  on  the  way  to  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  and 
is  open  to  all  comers,  although  no  food  is  provided. 

THE  DEAD  SEA 

After  a  short  stay,  and  just  as  the  sun  was 
rising,  we  started  for  the  Dead  Sea  seven 
miles  off.  We  had  to  ride  across  a  plain  which  is 
fairly  level  except  for  a  gentle  downward  slope.  After 
leaving  the  fertile  belt  about  two  miles  southeast  of 
Jericho,  we  entered  a  barren  tract  quite  devoid  of 
vegetation.  Here  the  soil  under  foot  is  a  sort  of  sandy 
clay  coated  with  layers  of  asphalt  and  studded  with 
tiny  but  bright  crystals  of  salt.  As  soon  as  the  shore 


u6  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

of  the  lake  was  reached,  the  unexpected  beauty  of 
the  scene  almost  took  one's  breath  away.  The  water 
looked  as  lovely,  blue,  clear,  and  inviting  as  Butter- 
mere  in  the  summer  time.  The  hills  around  were 
higher  and  the  precipices,  especially  on  the  eastern  or 
Moab  side,  more  abrupt,  but  the  play  of  lights  and 
shadows  was  the  same,  and  the  brilliant  coloring 
of  the  limestone  and  plutonic  rocks  made  up  for  the 
absence  of  foliage.  Desolate  the  scene  was,  but  there 
were  none  of  the  gruesome  horrors  expected  in  the 
Dead  Sea.  Though  standing  one  thousand  and  three 
hundred  feet  below  the  ocean  level,  in  the  bowels  of 
the  earth  as  it  were,  we  could  not  feelfar  from  the 
world,  when  through  the  clear  air  we  could  distinctly 
see  the  bell-tower  on  the  Mount  of  Olives,  four- 
thousand  feet  above  us,  and,  as  the  crow  flies,  twenty- 
five  miles  away.  A  few  days  before  I  had  seen 
the  Dead  Sea,  from  that  very  tower,  at  sunset  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  and  its  dull  gray  or  greenery-yellow 
color  made  it  seem  typical  of  misery  and  mystery. 
But  on  its  shores  it  was  proximity,  not  distance,  that 
lent  enchantment  to  the  view. 

Of  course,  I  bathed  in  the  water,  and  found  it  easy 
to  swim  in,  but  not  so  very  different  from  ordi- 
nary sea  water.  The  taste  was  awful,  the  bitter  pun- 
gency of  the  manganese  quite  neutralizing  that  of 
the  salt,  and  the  water  made  a  mosquito  bite  on  my 
ankle  smart  terribly.  The  sun  was  too  hot  to  make 
it  safe  to  stay  in  the  water  more  than  a  minute  or  two 
with  the  head  unprotected,  but  the  bath  was  worth 
the  risk.  It  felt  and  looked  more  like  bathing  in  oil 
than  in  water.  The  surface  was  still  and  smooth  as 
the  most  perfect  plate-glass,  and  just  as  clear,  despite 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  117 

the  great  depth  of  this,  the  northern,  half  of  the  lake. 
Thirteen  hundred  feet  and  more  have  been  fathomed, 
yet  in  this  vast  volume  of  water  not  even  the  lowest 
organism  can  live.  We  gazed  awhile  at  Mount  Nebo 
opposite,  and  the  Sheikh  pointed  out  a  ruin  in  the 
hills  of  Judah  behind  us  as  the  grave  of  Moses,  on 
our  own — the  wrong — side  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Moslem 
tradition  does  not  admit  that  "  no  man  knoweth  of 
his  sepulchre  unto  this  day."  The  Dead  Sea  is  rather 
smaller  in  extent  than  the  Lake  of  Geneva  and  only 
nine  miles  across.  The  top  of  Pisgah  frowned  ma- 
jestically before  us  nearly  five  thousand  feet  high. 
Till  one  sees  the  character  of  the  country  and  the  mar- 
vellous clearness  of  the  atmosphere,  one  cannot  realize 
how  from  its  summit  Moses  could  have  seen,  as  he 
gazed,  long  and  lovingly,  the  whole  of  the  Promised 
Land  lying  mapped  out  before  him,  "  all  the  land  of 
Gilead  unto  Dan." 

Geological  considerations  make  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  assume  that  the  sites  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah 
are  now  covered  by  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The 
chasm  it  occupies  is  primeval,  and  evaporation  has 
made  the  sea  shallower  than  it  was,  not  deeper. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  Bible  narrative,  nor,  I  believe, 
in  Talmud  or  Midrash  to  lead  us  to  assume  that  the 
cities  of  the  plain  were  destroyed  by  water  as  well  as 
fire.  The  sulphur  and  bitumen  near  the  northern 
end,  and  perhaps,  too,  the  lava,  and  other  indications  of 
volcanic  agency  there,  point  to  the  crumbling  clay, 
in  parts  like  quicksand  treacherous  to  the  foot,  which 
extends  between  Jericho  and  the  Bahr  el  Lut  (Lot's 
Lake)  as  the  more  likely  site.  The  only  strong  argu- 
ments to  the  contrary  are  the  fanciful  traveller's  tales, 


u8  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

of  those  who  have  ventured  to  navigate  the  sea,  and 
assert  that  they  have  noticed  ruins  of  towers  and 
palaces  in  the  depths  below.  It  is  possible  that  these 
accounts  are  not  altogether  drawn  from  the  imagi- 
nation. A  haze  often  hangs  over  the  sea,  and,  some- 
times perhaps,  the  atmospheric  conditions,  which  in 
the  Straits  of  Messina  give  rise  to  the  Fata  Morgana, 
are  here  reproduced. 

THE  JORDAN 

From  the  Dead  Sea  we  rode  rapidly  on  to  the  Ford 
of  Jordan,  or  "  Place  of  Baptism,"  probably  the  site 
of  Gilgal,  and  the  place  where  Elijah  ascended  to 
heaven  in  a  chariot  of  fire.  Here  again  I  bathed  and 
swam  across  the  stream,  which  was  rapid  and  turbid, 
but  almost  as  narrow  as  the  Mole  at  Esher,  or  the 
Thames  above  Henley.  Childhood's  preconceptions 
had,  as  Mark  Twain  says  in  his  "  New  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress,"— the  best  guide  book  to  the  Orient — pictured 
a  mighty  river  seven  thousand  miles  long  and  pro- 
portionally wide!  In  fact,  it  is  about  as  long  as  the 
not  less  famous  Thames,  only  much  narrower.  The 
water  was  warm,  but  after  my  bath  in  the  Dead  Sea 
and  exposure  to  the  fierce  rays  of  the  tropical  sun, 
I  found  the  shade  of  the  thicket  and  cliffs  made  Jor- 
dan's water  a  most  welcome  change.  It  is  as  much 
discolored  as  that  of  'the  Nile,  and,  meeting  some 
Russian  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  the  only  bath 
their  religion  enjoins  and  they  can  be  persuaded  to 
take,  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  it  was  they  and 
their  like  who  had  polluted  the  pristine  purity  of  the 
snows  of  Hermon.  We  rode  back  through  the  jungle, 
in  which  we  were  not  sorrv  to  hear  that  lions  are  now 


HEBRON,  DEAD  SEA,  AND  JORDAN  119 

scarcely  ever  to  be  met  with,  and  returned  home  as 
quickly  as  we  could.  On  the  way  we  wondered  at  the 
almost  inaccessible  hermits'  cells  in  the  rocks  of  the 
Jebel  Karantel.  We  were  on  the  other  side  of  a  deep 
gorge,  and  the  caverns  in  which  the  poor  devotees 
spend  their  lives  seem,  and  no  doubt  originally  were, 
the  lairs  of  wild  beasts.  One  blood-curdling  track,  I 
cannot  call  it  path,  was  so  precipitous  that  a  little 
donkey  was  the  only  four-footed  animal  that  would 
step  upon  it,  and  that  had  been  trained  to  go  on 
it  ever  since  it  could  walk. 

We  got  back  to  Jerusalem  shortly  before  ten  o'clock, 
after  an  absence  of  less  than  twenty-four  hours,  of 
which  we  had  spent  nineteen  in  the  saddle.  We  were 
very  tired,  but  not  too  tired  to  do  justice  to  supper, 
or  to  spend  an  hour  in  Mr.  Kaminitz's  drawing-room 
listening  to  a  concert,  in  which  some  ladies  and  gentle- 
men staying  in  the  hotel  took  part.  After  the  many 
disappointments  agreeable  and  otherwise  which  we  had 
experienced  in  our  expedition,  this  music  was  not  the 
least  of  the  day's  surprises. 


Rishcn  le-Zion  —  Other  Colonies  —  The  Agricultural  School  — 
The  Montefiore  Garden. 

RlSHON  LE-ZlON 

I  HAD  to  leave  Jerusalem  on  Thursday  evening,  the  4th 
October,  in  order  to  catch  the  Beyrout  boat,  which 
was  to  start  next  day  from  Jaffa.  Dr.  d'Arbela  had 
kindly  consented  to  accompany  me,  and  show  me  over 
the  "  Rishon  le-Zion  "  colony.  Our  carriage  was  at 
the  door  by  eight  o'clock,  but,  what  with  official  busi- 
ness at  the  Serail  and  before  the  Cadi,  telegrams  to 
England  and  preparing  for  the  European  mail,  fare- 
well visits  and  endless  leave-takings,  it  was  only 
with  much  difficulty  that,  after  about  as  hard  a  day's 
work  as  I  have  ever  had,  we  managed  to  get  away 
by  midnight.  Mr.  Kaminitz,  whose  Hebrew  hotel  bill, 
both  for  excellence  of  vocabulary  and  calligraphy  and 
for  smallness  of  total,  is  one  of  my  most  prized 
Oriental  curiosities,  sat  on  the  box  by  the  driver,  and 
off  we  drove  in  gallant  style.  This  time  we  had  a 
landau  instead  of  a  rude  open  wagon,  and  the  road 
had  been  made  smoother  than  it  was  when  I  first 
came,  and  yet  the  jolting  and  shaking  seemed  ever  so 
much  worse.  I  suppose  it  was  because  there  was  no 
view  to  distract  my  attention,  and  because  I  was  so  very 
sleepy  and  so  unable  to  sleep.  The  Doctor  was  an 
old  stager,  and  no  doubt  considered  the  roads  Elysian 
in  comparison  with  those  of  Zanzibar,  anyhow  he  did 
not  grumble.  We  got  an  hour's  sleep  on  a  divan  in 


AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  121 

Bohnenberger's  Inn  at  Ramleh,  had  some  coffee  there, 
started  again  at  four,  and  after  a  couple  of  hours'  drive, 
half  of  which  was  along  a  sandy  cart-track  to  the 
left  of  the  Jaffa  Road,  reached  the  colony  shortly  after 
daybreak.  It  lies  on  a  slight  eminence  in  the  midst 
of  a  sandy  plain,  across  which  an  unmistakable  sea- 
breeze  blows.  The  total  area  is  about  six  million 
square  metres,  rather  more  than  two  square  miles. 
The  soil  is  dreadfully  sandy,  and  can  support  no  cere- 
als, though  experts  say  it  is  thoroughly  well  adapted 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  vine.  This  at  any  rate  is 
the  somewhat  dearly  bought  experience  of  the  colo- 
nists, who  have  in  consequence  latterly  devoted  their 
exclusive  attention  to  the  grape.  The  effect,  from  the 
aesthetic  point  of  view,  is  anything  but  picturesque, 
the  ground  seems  covered  with  low  brambly  vines, 
looking  for  all  the  world  like  the  furze  on  some  barren 
English  heath.  Of  course,  I  saw  it  under  compara- 
tively unfavorable  auspices,  the  vintage  was  over,  and 
every  grape  had  been  religiously  plucked  from  its 
parent  bush.  The  viticulture  is  that  of  Northern  Eu- 
rope, and  I  must  confess  to  disappointment  at  not 
being  able  to  see  each  colonist  sitting,  or — preferably — 
working,  under  his  vine,  instead  of  stooping  over  it  as 
he  pruned.  A  vineyard  looks  infinitely  more  beautiful 
if  it  is  trained  along  stately  poplars  or  festooned  from 
some  other  giants  of  the  forest.  But  a  collection  of  a 
million  low  shrubs,  which  represent  the  grape  treasures 
of  Rishon,  is  more  practical  and  remunerative,  and  cer- 
tainly it  teaches  a  lesson  of  independence.  I  am  told 
that  its  black  .grapes  in  flavor  and  in  size  compare 
favorably  with  the  choicest  fruit  of  Burgundy,  and 
that  the  prospects  of  a  large  export  of  red  wine 


122  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

vintages  to  France  are  highly  promising.  Anyhow 
no  expense  is  being  spared  by  the  philanthropist  who 
is  developing  Rishon.  On  the  erection  of  a  cuvc- 
nicre  and  cooling  chamber  alone  an  outlay  of  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  has  been  sanctioned,  and 
M.  Alphonse  Bloch,  the  amiable  and  wide-awake 
Director  of  the  colony,  anticipates  great  results  in  about 
two  years  from  now.  The  colonists  take  pride  and 
delight  in  their  work,  each  has  a  half  hectare  or  so 
of  his  very  own,  and  all  are  idealists,  and  have  a  confi- 
dent belief  in  the  future.  At  the  time  of  the  ingather- 
ing of  the  grapes  there  is  more  work  to  be  done  than 
hands  to  do  it.  M.  Bloch  has  had  to  hire  Arabs  to 
assist  in  the  picking,  and  soldiers  to  guard  against  the 
depredations  of  jackals  and  other  Arabs.  There  are 
some  three  hundred  colonists  in  all,  of  whom  about 
a  quarter  are  able-bodied  men,  mostly  Roumanians, 
and  they  seem  able  to  fight  and  by  no  means  loth  to  do 
so  on  occasion  and  to  protect  their  own.  The  houses 
are  neat  and  substantially  built  of  stone,  most  have  two 
stories,  and  the  principal  street,  which  contains  nearly 
all  of  the  thirty  or  forty  houses  that  constitute  the 
village,  is  wide,  straight,  and  planted  with  trees,  so  that 
it  makes  quite  a  little  boulevard.  Every  house  has  a 
little  garden  ground  in  front,  and  a  yard  and  outhouse 
and  often  a  stable  behind.  The  finest  building  in  the 
place  is  the  official  residence  of  M.  Bloch.  This  boasts 
of  two  bedrooms  and  as  many  sitting  rooms,  of  which 
one  is  the  general  office  of  the  colony.  There  are  no 
cows  in  the  colony,  water  is  too  expensive,  and  so  the 
breakfast,  which  the  Director  was  good  enough  to  give 
me,  largely  consisted  of  condensed  milk  and  preserved 
butter,  to  which  I  preferred  the  honey — as,  indeed,  the 


AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  123 

wasps  did  also.  Behind  this  "  Government  House  " 
was  quite  an  old-fashioned  English  flower-garden, 
which  it  did  one's  heart  good  to  see — wall-flowers  in 
autumn  and  pansies  and  irises,  and  "  lilies  dropping 
sweet-smelling  myrrh."  The  fleur-de-lis  was,  of 
course,  a  "  charge  "  of  the  royal  arms  of  Judah,  long 
before  the  House  of  France  arrogated  to  itself  the 
lovely  emblem.  Near  the  garden  is  the  site  of  an 
unfinished  synagogue,  which  remains  as  a  monument 
of  Turkish  bigotry.  Before  a  building  can  be  erected 
for  public  worship  the  sanction  of  the  Pasha  must  be 
obtained.  Reouf  will  not  give  this,  and  neither  for 
love  nor  money  is  he  to  be  shaken  from  his  determina- 
tion. The  synagogue  therefore  remains  roofless,  and 
but  for  the  foresight  of  the  late  Director,  M.  Osovesky, 
who  had  a  large  room  planned  in  the  basement,  ostensi- 
bly for  the  purpose  of  a  school,  the  colonists  would 
have  no  place  where  they  could  meet  for  prayer.  The 
school  itself  is  in  an  adjoining  house,  on  the  first  floor. 
Here  a  busy  class  of  chubby  little  boys  were  learning 
the  mysteries  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  M.  Bloch 
is  a  great  purist,  and  insists  that  all  the  proletariat  of  the 
colony  shall  speak  the  most  classical  Hebrew,  so  they 
are  taught  in  that  language,  and  answer  questions 
readily  and  pertinently  in  the  sacred  tongue.  Much  at- 
tention is  being  devoted  to  the  planting  of  trees ;  there 
are  about  three  thousand  olive  trees  and  a  like  number 
of  almond  trees  in  the  colony.  Besides  these  M.  Bloch 
pointed  out  to  me  some  Eucalyptus  and  castor-oil  trees, 
both  of  which  grow  fast,  are  shady,  and  will  in  time 
attract  clouds  and  supply  the  defects  of  irrigation.  The 
castor-oil  tree  is  particularly  interesting,  as  it  is  proba- 
bly the  original  of  Jonah's  gourd,  the  njv  ^\y  P'p'p- 


124  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

a  phrase  by  the  by  favored  for  the  titles  of  their  books 
by  Rabbinical  authors  named  after  the  rebellious 
prophet,  and  not  a  little  appropriate. 

OTHER  COLONIES 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  give  a  list  of  the  other 
Palestine  Colonies,  mostly  near  Jaffa,  although  condi- 
tions of  time  and  space  prevented  my  paying  them  a 
visit.1  They  are : 

mpn  nna  "The  Gate  of  Hope,"  13,500,000  square 
metres,  411  inhabitants. 

mirv  "  Juditha,"  144,000  square  metres,  75  inhabi- 
tants. 

pi*o  r6m  "  Reuben's  Heritage,"  formerly  "  Wady 
Hinim,"  1,500,000  square  metres,  38  inhabitants. 

rrro  rnoiD  "  Bethuia's  Memorial,"  formerly  "  Ek- 
ron,"  3,500,000  square  metres,  226  inhabitants. 

mij  "  Gadara,"  2,500,000  square  metres,  40  inhabi- 
tants. 

2pjr  jn:n  "  Jacob's  Memorial,"  formerly  Samarin, 
near  Haifa,  19,000,000  square  metres,  644  inhabitants. 
This  was  visited  by  Sir  Grant  Duff  in  his  recent  visit 
to  Palestine,  and  he  refers  to  it  in  his  article  on  "  A 
Winter  in  Syria,"  which  appeared  in  the  Contempo- 
rary Review  for  January,  1889. 

ma  two  "  The  Corner  Stone."  near  Safed,  3,000,000 
square  metres,  223  inhabitants. 

nSjron  110"  "  Excelsior,"  2,000,000  square  metres,  39 
inhabitants. 

1  Most  of  these  colonies  I  visited  on  my  subsequent  journeys 
to  the  Holy  Land. 


AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  125 

THE  AGRICULTURAL  SCHOOL 

After  we  had  stayed  about  four  hours  at  Rishon,  M. 
Bloch  was  good  enough  to  drive  me  over  to  the  Agri- 
cultural School  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  about  eight 
miles  away.  M.  Bloch  drove  a  light  phaeton  with  two 
horses,  which,  though  not  much  to  look  at,  managed  to 
carry  us,  quickly  and  smoothly,  to  our  destination. 
After  passing  through  a  fine  avenue  of  trees,  which 
might  have  graced  a  park,  we  came  to  the  main  build- 
ing. Although  it  was  nearly  noon,  we  found  M. 
Hirsch,  the  Director,  and  his  wife,  in  the  garden, 
sitting  in  the  shade.  All  around  were  aromatic  orange 
and  citron  trees.  The  Ethrogim,  of  course,  had  all 
been  picked,  but  the  oranges  were  not  yet  ripe.  How- 
ever, it  would  never  do  to  have  left  the  Holy 
Land  without  tasting  an  orange,  and  so  I  persuaded 
M.  Hirsch  to  give  me  one.  It  was  rather  sour,  of 
course,  but  refreshing,  and,  besides,  I  had  my  way. 
The  orange  crop  at  this  garden  is  quite  important ;  M. 
Hirsch  had  disposed  of  that  season's  for  no  less  a  sum 
than  a  hundred  Napoleons.2  There  were  forty  pupils 
at  the  school,  all  of  whom  happened  to  be  in  one  school- 
room, learning  geography.  They  hailed  from  about  a 
dozen  places  on  the  eastern  and  southern  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  in  age  they  ranged  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  years.  Despite  their  ungainly  French  blue 
blouses,  they  looked,  albeit  somewhat  stupid,  the  pic- 
ture of  health,  and  sunburnt  even  beyond  expectation. 
The  school  possesses  some  fine  machinery,  an  Artesian 
well,  sesame  fields,  and  quite  a  model  farm.  The  pupils 
are  specially  taught  fruit  and  vegetable  gardening, 

2  In  1901  the  crop  fetched  more  than  five  times  that  amount. 


126  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

and  are  treated  on  a  kind  of  apprentice  system,  by 
which,  after  three  or  four  years'  training,  they  leave  the 
school,  with  a  bonus,  or  salary,  of  forty  pounds  in  their 
pockets.  Of  course,  the  circumstances  of  the  case  pre- 
vent the  whole  undertaking  from  being  carried  out  so 
as  to  be  anything  like  self-supporting.  But  there  is  no 
doubt  that  much  good  is  being  done,  and  that  its  proud 
title,  SNIBT  mpo,  "  The  Hope  of  Israel,"  is  not  un- 
deserved. Since  I  left,  the  Alliance  has  deter- 
mined to  increase  the  number  of  the  pupils  to  sixty, 
and  to  draft  to  it  some  of  the  pupils  from  its  school 
in  Tunis.  Apparently,  a  first  batch,  consisting  of 
seven  young  Tunisians,  arrived  at  the  school  on  the 
iQth  November,  1888.  After  completing  their  agricul- 
tural education  at  Jaffa,  they  are  to  return  home  to  find 
work  with  local  farmers,  till  they  have  saved  enough 
money  to  become  themselves  owners  of  a  little  farm. 
How  the  pupils  can  best  spend  the  interval  between 
leaving  Mikveh  Israel  and  setting  up  as  peasant 
proprietors  themselves,  is  no  easy  problem.  It  may  be 
desirable  to  use  the  Montefiore  Garden  at  Jaffa,  if 
available,  for  the  purpose  of  farming  it  out  to  the 
young  men,  who  would  thus  be  almost  independent  and 
yet  not  without  supervision. 

THE  MONTEFIORE  GARDEN 

From  the  Agricultural  School  we  drove  across  coun- 
try on  an  execrable  track  to  the  Montefiore  Garden 
about  five  miles  off,  two  miles  or  less  from  Jaffa,  and 
immediately  opposite  the  prosperous  but  anti-Semitic 
colony  of  Sarona,  founded  in  1868  by  some  Germans 
from  Wiirtemberg.  We  found  that  Samhun,  the  care- 
taker, or  farmer,  of  the  garden  (he  pays  no  rent),  had 


AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  127 

gone  to  Jaffa  to  make  his  purchases  for  Sabbath,  and 
had  taken  the  key  with  him.  I  represented  that,  as  I 
held  a  power  of  attorney  from  Mr.  Sebag  Montefiore, 
I  was  justified  in  breaking  open  the  rude  lock,  but 
Samhun's  son  threatened  to  go  across  the  road  and  call 
a  policeman  if  we  did!  After  considerable  battering 
at  the  gate,  we  found  that  we  could  not  move  it,  and 
so  thought  it  best  to  give  up  the  attempt.  However, 
we  looked  over  the  garden  from  various  points  of  van- 
tage— on  tip-toe  over  the  gate,  from  the  window 
of  a  building  where,  a  massive  water-wheel  has  been 
built  over  the  well,  and  through  gaps  in  the  cactus 
hedge.  The  prickly  pears  were  nice  to  eat,  their  para- 
sites, the  cochineal  insects,  most  curious  to  watch, 
but  I  was  unwise  enough  to  make  a  still  closer  ac- 
quaintance with  the  hedge.  Thinking  I  could  squeeze 
through  one  gap  which  seemed  wider  than  the  rest. 
I  put  on  a  pair  of  gloves  and  tried  to  get  in.  The 
prickles  were  too  many  for  me,  and  I  retired  in  discom- 
fort and  discomfiture.  For  weeks  afterwards  I  could 
not  put  on  those  gloves,  and  they  were  a  new  pair,  too, 
without  getting  stung.  Nevertheless  we  saw  enough 
of  the  garden  to  satisfy  ourselves  of  its  wonderful 
fertility.  Notwithstanding  the  comparative  neglect 
of  its  gardeners,  the  Samhuns,  who,  poor  fel- 
lows, were  down  with  the  fever,  the  place  seemed  a 
very  paradise  in  its  luxuriant  vegetation,  and  bananas, 
dates,  oranges,  citrons,  and  plums  made  the  air  sweet 
with  their  fragrance.  We  got  to  Jaffa  about  two,  met 
Dr.  d'Arbela  and  Mr.  Osovcsky  at  Ilirsch  Cohen's 
restaurant  there,  and  made  an  excellent  dinner.  The 
Jewish  merchants  and  restaurateurs  seemed  to  be  pros- 
pering. H.  B.  M.  Vice-Consul,  the  courteous  Mr. 


128  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Amzalek,  is  a  Jew,  and  yet,  strangely  enough,  although 
there  are  over  two  thousand  Jews  (about  an  equal 
number  of  Ashkenazim  and  Sephardim)  in  Jaffa,  and 
a  much  larger  number  in  the  neighborhood,  in  the 
Colonies,  and  elsewhere,  there  is  no  large  synagogue, 
and  only  an  apology  for  a  Talmud  Torah  school.  The 
Sephardim  have  neither  Rabbi  nor  teacher,  and  al- 


JEWISH    INTERIOR   AT  DAMASCUS 

though  there  are  numerous  Minyanim,  communal 
affairs  seem  entirely  disorganized.  Mr.  Kaminitz  took 
me  to  see  the  Hotel  Palestine,  which  he  had  just  ac- 
quired, and  I  very  much  admired  its  situation  and  air- 
iness. It  is  on  the  Jerusalem  Road,  and  can  be  con- 
fidently recommended  to  all  visitors  who  wish  to  break 
their  journey  at  Jaffa.  Mr.  Kaminitz's  hotel  is  the 
only  one  east  of  Paris  where  I  have  seen  soap  sup- 


AGRICULTURAL  COLONIES  129 

plied  gratis,  and  for  cleanliness  and  comfort  at  Jerusa- 
lem his  Hotel  Jerusalem,  and  at  Jaffa  doubtless  the 
Hotel  Palestine  also,  are  unsurpassed.  His  tact  in 
appeasing  unwelcome  visitors  and  keeping  his  guests 
from  worry  and  annoyance  is  beyond  all  praise,  and  al- 
together he  thoroughly  deserves  the  patronage  he  re- 
ceives. About  an  hour  before  Sabbath  I  embarked 
for  Damascus  on  board  the  Khedivieh  (Egyptian) 
steamship  "  Rahmaniyeh,"  and  regretfully  closed  one 
of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  my  life. 


PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895 

The  Old  — The  New. 

THE  OLD 

A  SCORE  or  so  of  old  men  with  white  beards  seated  at 
a  long  table  covered  by  open  volumes  of  the  Talmud. 
The  sacred  Scroll  of  the  Law  is  enshrined  at  their  left, 
and  behind  them  we  see  ponderous  old  tomes,  tight 
fitted  into  the  alcove  of  a  vault-like  chamber,  with 
quaint  curves  and  angles.  Is  not  this  some  souvenir 
from  the  brush  of  an  old  master?  No,  old-world  pic- 
ture as  it  is,  and  appropriately  framed,  it  is  from  a 
photograph  of  an  actuality  of  to-day.  I  saw  it  not  so 
many  years  ago  in  Jerusalem,  and  anyone  is  welcome 
to  see  it  to-morrow,  or  next  year,  or  haply  a  hundred 
years  hence.  The  very  faults  in  execution  are  silent 
witnesses  to  its  truth.  The  awkward  crookedness 
of  the  bench,  the  angularity  of  the  hanging  lamps, 
the  uncouth  commingling  of  caps  and  beards, 
are  necessary  results  of  a  camera  focused  at  a 
disadvantage.  The  cheap  and  ugly  clock  in  the  cor- 
ner could  not  have  been  introduced  into  any  sketch  of 
the  imagination.  Its  inartistic  character  is  a  guaran- 
tee of  its  genuineness.  Anyhow,  the  picture  is  a  real 
one,  and  a  keen  eye  will  be  able  to  decipher  the  He- 
brew tablet  in  the  background,  which  identifies  the 
scene.  Moreover,  the  photograph,  such  as  it  is,  is  at 
least  a  triumphant  testimonial  to  the  brilliancy  of  the 
light  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  a  Palestinian  city  in- 
terior. 


PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895        131 

For  those  whose  European  eyes  cannot  decipher  the 
Hebrew  it  may  be  at  once  stated  that  this  is  the  like- 
ness of  a  group  of  inmates  in  the  D'jpr  a^no,  or  "  Old 
People's  Rest,"  at  Jerusalem.  They  are  assembled  in 
the  principal  room  of  the  institution — assembled  for 
prayer — but,  in  accordance  with  our  good  old  Jewish 
custom,  they  are  "  learning "  before  they  pray.  The 
saintly-looking  veteran  in  the  centre  is  Rabbi  Kaddish 
Halevi  from  Wolkowisk.  Though  a  comparatively 
young  man  of  seventy,  he  is,  in  more  respects  than  one, 
the  head  of  the  Yeshibah,  or  Institution.  He  has  six- 
ty-five male  colleagues  and  forty-seven  female.  Many 
of  them  are  over  eighty  years  of  age.  One  good  old 
dame,  Madame  Breina  Spira,  from  Zoslauv,  is  over 
ninety-seven  years  old,  Daniel  ibn  Joseph  Tnil,  of 
Smyrna,  is  ninety-two,  and  Salem  Rosanawski,  of 
Kishinew,  ninety.  The  tall,  emaciated-looking  man 
standing  in  front  of  the  curtain  of  the  Ark  is  a  smith, 
Abraham  Skalir.  The  previous  occupations  of  the  men 
are  all  detailed  in  the  annual  report  of  the  institution. 
Three  of  the  men  were  colonists,  one  a  doctor,  several 
teachers,  Shochetim,  builders,  tailors,  peddlers,  a  brass 
worker,  an  n^'V  JIIN,  "  weaver  of  fringes,"  and  so  on. 
One  pleasing  but  very  Russian  feature  about  the  char- 
ity is  that  connected  with  it  we  find  not  a  Soup 
Kitchen,  but  a  Tea  Kitchen.  For  two  hours  after 
nightfall  every  applicant  is  entitled  to  a  glass  of  hot 
tea  gratis,  and  there  are  four  hundred  glasses  or  so 
dispensed  every  night — a  happy  form  of  benevolence 
which  dimly  recalls  the  generous  food  doles  of  the 
mediaeval  monastery  and  convent. 

What  strikes  one  most  about  the  inmates  is  the  re- 
finement and  intellectuality  of  their  features.  It  is  a 


132  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

workhouse,  where  aged  failures  in  the  struggle  for  ex- 
istence are  entertained,  free  of  expense.  Here  they  are 
permitted  to  pass  away  in  peace.  Not  here  will  we 
meet  with  degraded  types  of  the  European  inebriate  or 
jail  bird.  Nor  is  there  any  thing  characteristically 
Jewish  about  the  appearance  of  our  friends.  In  fact, 
there  is  no  place  like  Jerusalem,  where  all  nations  meet, 
for  convincing  one  of  the  fact  that  there  is  no  charac- 
teristic type  for  the  Jewish  countenance.  The  old  man 
at  the  corner  of  the  table,  fourth  to  the  right  of  R. 
Kaddish,  could  sit  as  a  model  for  Tycho  Brahe,  the 
man  behind  him  looks  like  a  Moor  of  Venice,  and 
some  of  them  are  just  Moujiks  and  nothing  more.  But 
they  are  all  representative  of  one  very  fascinating  as- 
pect of  Judaism,  which  it  is  the  fashion  to  doubt  or 
decry.  It  is  not  only  in  India  that  the  Yogi,  or  contem- 
plative Sage,  is  to  be  met  with,  who,  having  fulfilled 
his  whole  duty  as  a  man,  retires  from  active  life  to 
meditate  on  the  here  and  the  hereafter.  We  have  our 
Jewish  Yogis  even  outside  the  dazzling  effulgence 
which  emanates  from  the  Zohar.  Such  an  one  was 
our  dear  friend  Mr.  Zimmer,  and  of  such  is  the  bulk 
of  the  Moshab  Zekeinim.  They  work  not,  neither  do 
they  spin,  but  the  world  is  better  for  their  being  in  it, 
even  if  not  of  it.  It  is  refreshing  to  think  that  not 
everybody  is  in  a  hurry,  not  everybody  busy  money- 
getting  or  money-spending,  and  that  a  few  there  are 
who,  like  the  tertiary  creatures  still  to  be  found  in  the 
Jordan  as  living  fossils,  are  survivals  of  bygone  and 
more  tranquil  ages. 

The  present  position  of  the  building  is  just  where 
one  would  expect  to  find  it.  It  is  in  the  oldest  part  of 
the  city,  near  the  Meidan,  and  about  two  minutes'  walk 


PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895         133 

from  the  chief  Ashkenazi  synagogue,  which  is 
built  on  the  Tonn  rrvrr  "i  ro"nn,  the  "  Ruin  of  R. 
Judah  the  Pious."  It  occupies  two  sides  of  its  narrow 
lane — in  Jerusalem  proper  there  are  no  streets.  On 
the  one  side  is  the  men's  house,  the  property  of  the 
institution  and  registered  as  "  wakf,"  or  charity  prop- 
erty. The  women  occupy  the  quarters  opposite,  but 
their  house  is  merely  hired.  Still  it  has  the  advan- 
tage of  possessing  a  fine  view  of  the  Temple  area  from 
the  roof.  Fine,  however,  as  is  the  position  from  the 
sentimental  point  of  view,  the  site  is  necessarily  not 
salubrious,  and  although  our  old  people  seem  to 
thrive,  they  would  have  more  fresh  air  out- 
side the  city.  There  we  have  the  real  "  New  Jerusa- 
lem," and  there  the  Jew's  heart  must  warm  within 
him  when  he  sees  the  neat  clusters  of  trim  little  stone 
houses,  which  have  grown  up  as  if  by  magic  in  the  last 
decade.  There  are  many  such  clusters  now  from  the 
quaint  rock  dwellings  of  the  Troglodyte  men  of  Yemen, 
which  overhang  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  to  the  neat 
cottages  of  the  Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial 
Committee's  Building  Societies. 

Street  nomenclature  is  in  its  infancy  in  the  East  and 
therefore  picturesque.  "  The  Right  Hand  of  Moses  " 
and  "  Nathan's  Village  "  now  replace  the  squalid  huts 
of  the  squatters  who  had  to  be  turned  out  of  the  Monte- 
fiore Garden  seven  years  ago.  They  constitute  a  very 
creditable  approach  to  the  city  as  one  leaves  the  railway 
station,  and  I  was  told  that  the  sight  of  their  Sabbath 
lamps  gleaming  out  of  a  hundred  windows  on  a  Friday 
night  was  the  prettiest  thing  to  be  seen  from  the  Lech- 
mere  Hospital  opposite.  "  A  Hundred  Gates,"  and 
"  Montefiore  Memorial,"  "  The  Gate  of  the  Corner 


134  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Stone,"  "Moses  Gate,"  "The  House  of  Israel," 
"  Rechoboth,"  "  The  Inheritance  of  Seven,"  "  Stone  of 
Israel,"  and  "  Tabernacle  of  Peace,"  are  some  other 
names  that  bring  us  by  easy  stages  to  the  country  end 
of  the  Jaffa  Road.  Here,  close  by  the  watch  tower, 
which  marks  the  uttermost  end  of  outer  Jerusalem,  for 
a  Turkish  Octroi  allows  no  dwellings  on  the  wrong  side 
of  the  guard,  the  Moshab  Zekeinim  has  purchased  a  plot 
of  eleven  thousand  square  metres,  and  commenced  a 
new  building  after  the  model  of  the  Alterversorgungs- 
anstalt  in  Berlin.  It  was  induced  to  do  this  by  the 
munificent  promise  of  thirty-five  thousand  roubles  from 
a  Russian  millionaire.  But  the  millionaire  was  liti- 
gious, and  after  he  had  paid  five  thousand  roubles,  be- 
hold, the  High  Court  of  Justice  at  St.  Petersburg 
placed  a  distringas  on  the  whole  of  his  property,  and 
he  cannot  continue  payment.  And  so  the  building  is 
stopped  for  the  present. 

Perhaps  the  best  plea  for  the  Moshab  Zekeinim  is  a 
quotation  in  the  ipsissima  vcrba  of  its  managers' 
"  petition  to  pious  Ladies  and  gentlemen "  which, 
though  its  English  may  be  halting,  is  in  sentiment 
irreproachable.  "  It  is  beyond  our  power,"  they  write, 
"  to  sustain  all  its  wants.  God  knows  we  have  done 
the  utmost  it  offers,  but  we  must  now  appeal  to  the 
generous  and  pious  for  aid.  Have  compassion,  Pious 
Folk,  and  take  part  in  the  meritorious  subject.  Please 
obtain  for  yourselves  memberships  of  this  society  by 
paying  the  member's  fee  and  the  reward  for  your  piety 
and  generosity  will  be  exceedingly  large  in  this  world 
and  in  the  world  to  come.  .  .  .  Please  grant  your 
support  to  this  society,  and  the  Almighty  will  grant 
fulfilment  of  all  your  desire  and  will  permit  you  to 


PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895        135 

live  and  rejoice  in  the  restoration  of  Zion  and  Jeru- 
salem.    .     .     . 

"  Who  of  you,  Brethren,  does  not  feel  for  the  old  and 
feeble,  poor  and  helpless,  who  have  none  to  look  after 
them,  no  one  to  care  for  them,  who  would  eagerly  wish 
to  spend  their  last  days  on  earth  in  prayers  and  study 
of  the  holy  Torah  in  the  holy  city  of  Jerusalem  were 
there  but  a  corner  to  receive  them." 

THE  NEW 

A  very  different  picture,  but  in  its  way  quite  as  satis- 
factory, would  be  presented  by  a  portrait  group  of 
teachers  and  scholars  of  the  Lionel  de  Rothschild 
School  at  Jerusalem.  The  contrast  is  an  invigorating 
one,  for  youth  is  always  more  cheering  than  age.  Here 
we  would  find  no  poky  interior,  but  a  substantial 
modern  building  with  European  windows  and  shutters, 
and  neat  wooden  palings  and  the  olive  tree  to  supply 
local  color.  Nothing  but  the  fez,  which  marks  the  offi- 
cial element  throughout  the  Sultan's  dominions,  would 
distinguish  the  group  from  a  European  one  of  similar 
character.  The  very  bars  across  the  windows  would 
only  be  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  boys  will  be  boys  even 
in  Palestine,  and  just  as  the  ground-floor  windows 
that  "  give  "  on  College  "  Back  "  in  England  protect 
the  student  from  themselves,  so  is  the  "  interne  "  of 
our  school  protected  from  unlicensed  evasion. 

The  physiognomies  of  the  students  vary  more  even 
than  those  of  their  elders  in  the  Moshab  Zekeinim. 
And  necessarily  so.  For  in  the  Technical  School  we 
find  a  heterogeneous  assembly  of  different  nations, 
and  happily  of  different  creeds.  Jews  can  well  be 
proud  of  the  fact  that  in  the  hotbed  of  religious  fana- 


136  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

ticism,  they  were  the  first  to  throw  open  their  doors  to 
all  religions,  and  Mohammedan  and  Christian  alike 
testify  to  the  excellence  of  the  work  of  our  Jewish 
schools. 

The  young  men  now  learn  the  trades  of  blacksmith 
and  joiner,  locksmith  and  -mechanic,  coppersmith  and 
brass  founder,  sculptor  and  carriage  builder.  It  is  a 
veritable  university  of  technical  education.  It  draws  its 
pupils  from  Palestine  and  Turkey,  and  Russia  and 
Roumania  and  even  Greece;  and  it  sends  them  back, 
when  they  have  passed  through  their  apprenticeship,  to 
Egypt,  to  the  Palestine  Colonies,  such  as  Rishon  and 
Pethach  Tikvah  and  Samarin,  to  Belgrade,  to  Cyprus, 
to  Rhodes,  and  even  to  Marseilles ;  and  wherever  they 
go  they  earn  a  decent  living  by  the  work  of  their  hands. 
In  Jerusalem  itself  the  work  they  do  is  indispensable. 
The  upper  stories  of  the  hospital  and  hotel  there  are 
fitted  with  a  water  supply  entirely  made  by  the  pupils. 
They  have  constructed  steam-engines  and  pumps  and 
all  the  mystic  paraphernalia  of  modern  sanitation. 
Certainly  some  parts  of  a  ten-horse  power  engine  which 
was  shown  to  me  were  made  of  brass  instead  of  iron, 
but  that  was  because  we  have  not  yet  an  iron-foundry 
there. 

The  Technical  School  cannot  at  once  make  handi- 
craftsmen of  all  our  Oriental  co-religionists,  but  its 
pupils  are  already  spreading  afield  throughout  the  East 
and  disseminating  love  of  work  and  respect  for  the 
school  among  distant  Jewish  communities.  I  have 
myself  come  across  young  men  trained  there  who  are 
now  earning  decent  livelihoods  as  artisans,  not  only  in 
Palestine,  but  in  Cyprus,  and  even  in  Egypt.  For  the 
rest,  thanks  largely  to  English  philanthropy,  the  num- 


her  of  workshops  is  constantly  increasing,  and  their 
efficiency  is  growing  more  and  more  marked. 

Nowhere  is  the  prejudice  that  Jews  will  not  work 
with  their  hands  so  rapidly  becoming  antiquated  as  at 
Jerusalem.  Convents  and  mosques,  hospitals  and 
churches,  villas  and  hotels,  all  are  dependent  on  the 
Technical  School  for  the  provision  of  fitments  to  sup- 
ply them  with  the  appanages  of  civilization.  The 
folding  doors  of  the  Convent  of  St.  Joseph  move  so 
smoothly  and  look  so  smart  that  they  would  do  credit 
to  the  most  efficient  cabinet-makers  of  London  or  Paris. 
There  are  carved  book-cases  at  the  school  made  on 
the  premises  and  by  the  scholars  which  would  rouse  a 
bibliomaniac  to  envy. 

But  a  single  instance  will  perhaps  evidence  more 
vividly  than  any  mere  words  the  moral  benefit  derived 
from  the  existence  of  such  an  institution  in  Palestine. 
When  I  reached  Jerusalem,  I  was  informed  that  its 
scholars  were  actually  manufacturing  iron  gates  for 
the  tombs  of  the  Patriarchs  at  Hebron,  and  that  the 
gates  had  been  ordered  by  the  Sheikh  and  his  Eccle- 
siastical Board,  who  were  pressing  for  delivery.  Now, 
as  has  been  said  before,  if  there  is  one  thing  more  sa- 
cred than  another,  or  more  jealously  guarded  by  the 
Turk,  it  is  this  Mosque  which  is  erected  over  the  Cave 
of  Machpelah.  Hardly  half  a  dozen  Europeans  have 
been  allowed  to  visit  it.  The  last  occasion — but  one — 
was  when  the  Dukes  of  Clarence  and  York  went  there 
with  Major  Conder.  They  obtained  the  requisite  special 
firman  from  the  Sultan,  and  a  regiment  of  soldiers  to 
protect  them,  and  yet  there  was  a  riot  in  the  narrow 
white  lanes  of  Hebron  when  they  entered  the  Mosque. 

Well,  I  was  allowed,  with  two  Moslem  pupils,  to 


138  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

penetrate  there  disguised  as  a  mechanical  adviser  to 
our  school.  I  wore  a  tarbouche  and  carried  a  measure 
in  my  hand,  and  some  bottles  of  gilding  wherewith  to 
make  beautiful  the  gates  we  had  brought  with  us  and 
were  about  to  set  up.  I  dared  not  talk  for  fear  of 
betraying  myself  as  a  very  ordinary  tourist,  but  before 
we  were  accorded  admittance,  a  preliminary  palaver 
with  the  Sheikh  of  the  Mosque  was  necessary,  and,  with 
the  greatest  solemnity  in  the  world  and  with  Oriental 
gesture,  I  had  to  vehemently  negative  the  idea  that  the 
gilding  would  come  off  in  the  rain. 

I  visited  also  the  Evelina  de  Rothschild  School  for 
girls,  and  the  admirable  Villa  which  the  Association 
had  just  acquired  from  the  Latin  Patriarch  for  its  new 
premises.  Mdlle.  Fortunee  Behar,  its  energetic  direc- 
trice,  was  determined  to  conduct  her  school  on  English 
lines.  Mahanaim,  as  the  Villa  is  called,  was  built  five 
or  six  years  ago  by  the  bankers  Frutiger,  and  inhabited 
by  them  till  they  left  Jerusalem.  Its  windows  command 
an  ideal  view  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  and  the  Tem- 
ple area,  and  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Its  garden  is  full 
of  fine  trees,  and  its  wells  more  than  amply  supplied 
with  water.  Both  timber  and  water  are  valuable  com- 
modities at  Jerusalem,  and  will  somewhat  compensate 
for  the  increased  cost  of  maintenance  of  the  school. 
Little,  if  any,  alteration  is  needed  in  adapting  the  in- 
terior for  school  purposes,  and  my  friend,  Mr.  Richard- 
son, one  of  the  Surveyors  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  went 
over  the  premises,  and  was  satisfied  as  to  their  being 
in  a  good  state  of  repair.  There  were  difficulties  as  to 
title,  but  these  have,  I  understand,  been  now  circum- 
vented, if  not  overcome.  What  difficulties  there  had 
been  were  evidently  due  to  a  very  real  jealousy  on  the 


PALESTINE  REVISITED  IN  1895         139 

part  of  the  Turkish  officials,  with  regard  to  the  ever- 
increasing  influence  and  number  of  Jews  in  Pales- 
tine. 

The  Alliance  schools  at  Jaffa,  for  boys  and  girls, 
also  call  for  praise.  Jaffa  has  become  almost  a  Hebrew 
port.  The  shop-fronts  are  crowned  by  Hebrew  names 
and  sign-posts.  The  market  is  a  Jewish  forum,  and  the 
very  infants  speak  Bible  Hebrew.  There  are  few 
things  more  touching  to  the  Jew  returning  to  the  land 
of  his  forefathers  than  to  find  his  little  co-religionists 
doing  their  lessons  in  Hebrew,  aye,  even  prattling 
in  it,  as  a  very  living  language — the  language  of  play. 


SALONICA 

Synagogues  — A    Kippur    Siesta  — The    Talmud    Torah  — In- 
scriptions and  Manuscripts  —  The  Donme  —  Volo. 
SYNAGOGUES 

I  ARRIVED  at  Salonica  on  Friday,  the  23d  September, 
1898,  and  attended  the  synagogue  on  Sabbath,  the  24th, 
as  early  as  twenty  minutes  to  seven,  and  already  the 
Sepher  was  being  read.  On  the  morrow,  Selichoth 
began  at  midnight  and  the  whole  service  was  over  at 
three  in  the  morning!  Minchah  went  on  all  through 
the  afternoon  of  Erev  Yom  Kippur.  To  make  up  for 
the  excess  of  prayer,  Olympus  frowns  in  front  of  my 
window,  and  reminds  me  that  all  the  world  is  a  huge 
Pantheon. 

Most  characteristic  is  the  marble  flooring  in  these 
Shools.  The  seats  are  movable  benches,  and  some- 
times chairs.  The  Sicilians  possess  quite  gorgeous 
purple  or  crimson  armchairs  with  n'Sp  or  the  donor's 
name  embroidered  on  the  back  with  plenteous  gold. 
But  each  form  is  but  the  evidence  that  years 
ago  the  Salonicans,  like  the  Persians  of  to-day, 
squatted  on  the  ground  as  they  prayed.  Accommo- 
dation for  the  female  synagogue-goers  was  none  too 
abundant.  The  galleries,  or  corners  reserved  for 
them,  are  scrupulously  trellised  or  curtained  off 
from  the  indiscreet  gaze  of  the  opposite  sex.  They 
were  just  like  the  Shelters  provided  for  the  Harem 
beauties  in  the  theatre  boxes  at  Cairo.  But  I  did  not 
hear  that  the  morals  of  the  general  public  are  thereby 


SALONICA 


141 


improved;  au  contraire.  But  I  am  bound  to  say  that 
the  richer  kind  of  Salonica  Jewess,  who  has  abandoned 
such  Orientalisms,  "  enjoys  "  a  worse  reputation  than 
her  sister.  The  Jewesses  are  not  ugly.  The  national 
costume  is  becoming — a  flat  cap  terminating  in  a 
broad  green  (occasionally  red)  sash  about  a  foot  long 
and  six  inches  wide,  with  a  white  lace  tunic  some- 
thing like  the  Angelica-Kauffmann  bodice. 


CATALAN    SYNAGOGUE   AT  SALONICA 

Of  all  the  synagogues  that  of  "  Arragon  "  seemed 
the  most  picturesque.  It  is  large,  and  the  Almemar 
is  a  lofty  dais  at  the  extreme  west  end,  gallery  high. 
The  Ark  is  also  highly  placed,  and  many  elders  sit 
on  either  side  on  a  somewhat  lower  platform. 
"  Italia  "  was  more  striking,  for  the  synagogue  is  but 
half-built,  the  floor  not  yet  bricked  in,  and  the  gal- 
leries of  rough  lathes,  and  yet  the  women  climbed  up 
the  giddy  steps  of  the  scaffolding,  and  the  hall  was 
full  of  worshippers.  The  sacred  appurtenances  were 


142  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

borrowed  from  diverse  Chevras,  and,  of  course,  there 
were  lots  of  lofty  thirty-hour  candles.  At  "  Fakima 
Modianos  "  these  Kippur-lichts  were  Europeanized  by 
having  donors'  visiting  cards  neatly  attached  to  them 
with  silk  ribbons,  as  is  our  way  with  floral  offerings. 
At  none  of  the  Shools,  except  the  Ashkenaz,  was 
there  any  prostration  either  for  the  Abodah  or  for 
Alenu,  but  there  was  Duchan  for  all  services  except 
Minchah.  R.  David  Pipano  preached  for  ten  minutes 
before  Neilah,  of  course  in  Ladino.  Indeed,  the 
amount  of  Ladino  introduced  into  the  service  was 
quite  astonishing.  Most  of  the  Techinnoth,  Confes- 
sions, and  Selichoth  were  in  the  vernacular,  and  the 
Reader  seemed  really  moved  as  he  held  forth  in  that 
language,  but  his  audience  seemed  less  impressed. 

A  KIPPUR  SIESTA 

At  all  synagogues  and  Chevras  except  the  Ashkenaz, 
there  was  a  grateful  interval  of  two  hours  between 
Musaph  and  Minchah,  during  which  time  some  (e.  g., 
your  humble  servant)  retired  for  a  siesta,  but  many 
flocked  to  the  cafes,  which  were  filled  with  a  crowd 
that  eagerly  discussed  Colonel  Picquart's  punishment, 
but  neither  smoked  nor  drank.  At  service  time  the 
streets  were  deserted.  More  than  half  Salonica's 
eighth  of  a  million  are  Jews,  and  three-quarters  of  the 
trade  is  in  their  hands.  All  the  boatmen  of  the  port 
are  Jews,  and  on  Saturdays  no  steamer  can  load  or 
discharge  cargo.  Porters  and  shoeblacks,  bricklayers 
and  silk  hands,  are  all  Jews.  The  Ashkenaz  ritual 
is  like  the  Northern  Italian,  the  pronunciation  Sephar- 


SALONICA  143 

cli,  and  the  congregation  more  noisy  and  vehement, 
but  to  me  hardly  more  familiar  than  the  rest.  I  am 
bound  to  admit  that  I  did  not  visit  it  during  the  siesta 
interval.  Everybody  is  "  called  up "  on  Kippur. 
The  three  last  verses  of  the  fourth  portion  are  repeated 
over  and  over  again  to  each  member  in  turn.  This  is 
the  Shura,  and  is  a  lengthy  business,  which  gave 
one  plenty  of  time.  One  local  characteristic  of  the 
service  is  the  insertion  into  the  uuSo  irsx  of  a 
prayer  against  nfl'ity  (fire)  as  well  as  HSJD  (plague). 
Fire  is  more  dreaded  than  the  plague.  Zunz  and 
Steinschneider  bewail  the  conflagrations  at  Constanti- 
nople and  Adrianople  as  the  worst  of  the  enemies  to 
Jewish  books,  but  Salonica  has  suffered  even  more,  and 
the  fire  of  1890  devastated  half  the  town.  On  Tuesday 
(September  27th)  I  again  peregrinated  it,  book-hunt- 
ing and  taking  notes.  Bad  luck  was  still  my  portion, 
the  answer  constantly  repeated  was,  "  we  had  books, 
but  they  were  burnt." 

THE  TALMUD  TORAH 

The  Talmud  Torah  is  still  in  ruins,  but  the 
Baroness  Hirsch  has  promised  to  give  sixty  thousand 
francs  toward  the  cost  of  rebuilding  in  modern  style, 
if  the  community  will  find  the  rest.  The  insurance 
companies  had  to  pay  fifteen  thousand  as  their  part  of 
the  loss,  but  there  is  still  a  heavy  deficit.  The  Grand 
Rabbi,  Carlo  Allatini,  the  Modianos,  Fernandez,  Saias, 
Misrachi,  Auzolle,  R.  Jeuda  Nehama,  even  the  British 
Consul-General,  Mr.  Blount — everybody  begged  me  to 
use  my  good  offices  with  the  Anglo- Jewish  Associa- 
tion to  get  them  to  help.  And  really  it  seems  a  case 
where  a  slice  of  its  School  Construction  Fund  should 


144 


JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 


be   available.     After   the    Baroness'   generosity,   they 
must  not  ask  anybody  else  in  Paris. 

But  there  is  a  humorous  side  to  the  question.  It 
reminds  one  of  the  story  of  the  Galician  father  who 
was  so  very  depressed.  "  What  is  the  matter  ?"  asked 
his  friend.  "  I  have  promised  my  daughter's  young 
man  a  Nedan  of  five  hundred  gulden,  and  there  are 


•••HI 

THE  TALMUD  TORAH   AT  SALONICA 

still  two  hundred  and  fifty  I  cannot  find."  "  What 
nonsense!  If  you  have  promised  five  hundred,  he 
won't  expect  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty,  so  you 
are  all  right  with  your  two  hundred  and  fifty."  "  Ah ! 
but  it  is  just  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  which  I  am 
wanting."  .  .  .  It  is  a  dreadful  pity  that  the 
Talmud  Torah  Building  was  destroyed.  It  was  one 
of  the  most  ancient  and  authentic  in  the  community. 


SALONICA  145 

INSCRIPTIONS  AND  MANUSCRIPTS 

Two  Hebrew  inscriptions  still  remain  in  situ  by  the 
well  of  the  courtyard  which  I  managed  to  photograph. 
Two  others  have  been  removed  to  the  Rabbi's  house. 
One  is  of  1752  and  the  other  of  1624.  The  last  has 
special  interest,  because  it  commemorates  Noah  Cohen 
Ashkenazi.  The  following  is  a  copy : 
'YS'tf'n  rut? 

rroro  ma  inpiv  'n  Sj 
m   1^3^   p^   j-fl 
D'jmoa  span  Spt? 
D'Dty  Dt?S  ijr  VIJD 
D-jff  'fl  i1?  nnS  Tp  Sy  inn 
6"ry  riyat?  nnx  p«  V 

The  sum  total  of  my  spoil  from  Salonica  actually 
represents  a  negative  value!  There  are  three  MSS., 
of  which  only  one  is  oldish,  but  uninteresting — a 
fifteenth  century  doctor's  vade  mecum.  The  other 
two  are  quite  modern — Scriptural  expositions  in  pass- 
able Hebrew,  by  a  Greek  proselyte,  Rabbi  Abraham 
ha-Ger,  about  sixty  years  old,  and  the  other,  a  similar 
work,  politely  forced  upon  me  by  the  author's  grand- 
son. The  printed  works  proved  my  pitfall.  Dr.  Ber- 
liner proclaimed,  in  the  Hcbraische  Bibliographic 
some  months  ago,  that  he  had  two  pages  of  a  mys- 
terious edition  of  the  Talmud,  which  he  had  abstracted 
from  a  Salonica  binding. 

In  the  Cairo  Genizah  I  found  a  large  fragment  of 
fifty  pages  of  Berachoth  of  the  same  edition,  and  we 
laid  the  flattering  unction  to  our  souls  that  this  was 
a  Salonica  incunabulum.  Unfortunately,  a  complete 
copy  of  Baba  Meziah  has  turned  up  of  the  same  edition, 


146  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

but  with  a  title  page.  And  now  it  appears  that  it  was 
printed  only  in  1706.  The  printers  boast  that  fresh 
letters  were  actually  cut  for  this  same  edition,  but  it 
was  really  nothing  to  boast  of,  for  the  print  is  vile, 
and,  indeed,  so  bad  that  a  sympathizer  to  whom  I  had 
shown  my  fragment  had  hopefully  suggested  that  it 
might  turn  out  to  be  a  unique  specimen  of  Hebrew 
wood-block  printing.  But  magna  est  veritas,  and  it 
is  nearly  three  centuries  too  late. 

THE  DONME 

One  historical  fact  about  Salonica  is  interesting. 
When  Sabbatai  Zevi  turned  the  heads  of  Oriental 
Jews  and  others  in  1666,  and  created  so  much  commo- 
tion that  even  Oldenburg,  the  founder  of  the  Royal 
Society,  wrote  to  Spinoza  for  his  candid  opinion  about 
that  soi-disant  Messiah,  the  Salonica  Jews  caught  the 
craze  very  badly,  and  a  large  number  followed  their 
hero  in  his  conversion  to  Islam.  They  became  Turks  to 
outward  show,  and  to  this  very  day  their  descendants, 
of  whom  there  are  said  to  be  two  hundred  and  fifty 
families  in  the  city,  are  known  as  Donme,  or  converts.  I 
saw  them  smoking  outside  their  open  shops  on  Saturday, 
but  was  assured  that  they  were  crypto-Jews,  and 
practice  all  they  can  of  Judaism  at  home.  They  do 
not  marry  with  the  Turks,  by  whom,  indeed,  they 
are  viewed  with  much  suspicion.  I  spoke  to  one  of 
them  in  Hebrew,  and  he  evidently  understood,  though 
he  protested  he  was  a  Turk.  Such  an  one  had  taught 
at  the  Alliance  schools,  and  sent  his  sons  there.  And 
there  is  documentary  evidence  about  their  existence. 
There  is  a  Responsum  about  them  in  the  rnt?  of  R. 
Joseph  David,  the  Grand  Rabbi  who  died  in  1737,  and 


SALONICA  147 

whose  nn  no  was  published  three  years  later.  And 
there  is  another  Responsum  about  them  in ,  the 
SNIDIP  '131  'D  published  at  Salonica  in  1891,  in  which 
Rabbi  Cobo's  predecessor,  R.  Raphael  Samuel  Arditi, 
describes  on  page  240  how  he  adjudicated  on  a  ques- 
tion put  to  him  by  ruintf  "hyi  hv  mro  'j,  "  three  bands 
of  the  faithful."  The  faithful,  however,  are  otherwise 
known  as  heretics  or  o'yn ,  and  I  was  positively 
assured  that  the  late  Rav  meant  by  them  none  other 
than  these  extraordinary  Donme. 

VOLO 

The  ill-wind  that  brought  no  direct  boat  for  Athens 
enabled  me  to  spend  an  hour  at  the  Volo  synagogue 
and  school,  to  have  a  chat  with  R.  Mose  Pesakh,  its 
communal  factotum,  and  steal  a  peep  at  the  local 
Genizah.  The  synagogue,  like  the  community,  is 
only  thirty  years  old,  and  its  waste-paper  basket  is 
proportionally  modern.  I  found  there  a  Larissa 
Kethubah  of  1851,  fragments  of  an  old  Salonica 
Psalter  (xx-cxlv),  and  a  Sephardi  prayer  book,  and 
in  Ladino  a  History  of  France  ( !),  and  an  address  in 
honor  of  the  late  Dr.  Mose  Allatini.  Praise  is  also 
therein  incidentally  bestowed  on  those  other  two 
Salonica  worthies,  the  Baron  and  Baroness  Hirsch, 
portraits  of  whom,  by  the  by,  I  saw  in  several  poor 
homes  at  Salonica.  From  a  grocer  at  Volo,  I  bought 
a  Greek  and  Hebrew  prayer  book  and  Ethics  (Aboth) 
printed  in  1885  and  1886  at  Corfu.  Rabbi  Mose  told 
me  that  there  were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  Jewish 
families  at  Volo,  and  about  the  same  number  at 
Larissa,  though  there  had  been  twice  as  many  before 
the  •  Russo-Turkish  war.  Larissa  Jews  were  being 


148  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

molested  by  the  hillmen  of  Epirus,  out  of  revenge  for 
their  Turkish  sympathies,  but  the  Volo  Jews  were 
under  no  discomfort.  Volo  is  a  sea-port  and  has  con- 
suls, to  which  fact,  indeed,  it  owed  its  immunity  from 
all  damage  during  the  Turkish  occupation. 


SMYRNA 

The  Home  of  Sabbatai  Zevi  —  Young  Israel  —  A  Dramatic 
Performance  —  Magnesia  —  A  Wonderful  Manuscript  — 
Bounar  Bashi  —  Rhodes  —  Mersina. 

THE  HOME  OF  SABBATAI  ZEVI 

THE  earlier  days  of  Succoth  I  spent  at  Smyrna.  To 
school-boys  it  is  known  as  the  first  of  Homer's  seven 
birthplaces,  but  to  Oriental  Jews  it  is  famous  as  the 
birthplace  of  Sabbatai  Zevi,  the  Zionist  and  false 
Messiah  of  two  hundred  years  ago.  His  father  and 
uncle  died  here  in  1666,  and  the  following  was  given 
me  as  their  epitaphs.  For  obvious  reasons,  I  did  not 
copy  them  myself. 

THE  FATHER  MORDECAI  ZEVI  THE  UNCLE  ISAAC  ZEVI 

vmvoai  SK  rnina  pan  rnixnai  bx  mina  pn 

vniD'  Su  jnn  101  NT  mio'  SD  jno  101  NT 

rnip"«  ns  imp  rnipiv  na  imp 

rninvy  y^Str  py  pa  rninvjr  j"Srv  py  pa 

paj  ^'t^n  miap  navn  nS^j  paji  DDH  niiap 

'?>  »ax  ^IID  nn^        'V*  *2x  pnr  'n 

tyninS  'n  n  DV  IDJJJ  oaty  BninS  'a  or 

'yvn  'n  rut?  }D'j  'yvn  'n  rut? 

I  was  told  that  a  local  and  contemporary  Hebrew 
almanac  had  appeared  with  a  rude  wood-cut,  showing 
Sabbatai  Zevi  seated  on  the  throne  of  David  (  ?  Solo- 
mon) as  king  of  Israel,  but  I  was  not  able  to  find  a 
copy! 

There  are   four  large  and  five  minor  synagogues 


150  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

here.  As  a  stranger  I  went  to  that  of  the  DTPIK 
first,  and  here  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  the 
venerable  Chief  Rabbi,  the  Chacham  Bashi,  R.  Abra- 
ham Pelago.  He  is  a  fine-looking  man,  with  a  long 
white  beard,  and  his  age  is  variously  given  as  ninety, 
ninety-three,  and  ninety-five.  His  conversation  is 
bright  and  animated — in  Ladino  by  preference.  But  he 
talks  Hebrew  fluently,  and  has  written  eighteen  books 
in  that  language,  some  of  them  in  poetry.  He  offered 
me  sweet-stuff  made  of  quince,  and  some  sort  of  Mar- 
zipan to  eat  and  mastic  to  drink,  and  made  me  a  present 
of  the  Machzor  Romania.  He  could  never  hope  to  attain 
his  father's  quantity  of  bookmaking,  for  his  father 
was  still  sixty  books  ahead,  and  "  I  am  an  old  man 
now,"  he  said.  Apropos,  he  is  not  the  first  of  what  I 
may  call  the  Archipelagos,  for  his  father,  R.  Chaim 
Pelago,  had  been  Arch-Rabbi  before  him.  The  natives 
naturally  hold  them  both  in  the  highest  esteem,  and  tell 
a  story  about  the  father  which  surpasses  that  of  New- 
ton's dog  Diamond.  There  was  a  great  conflagra- 
tion in  Smyrna  in  1822  (there  have  been  several  since), 
and  in  the  fire  R.  Chaim  lost  fifty-four  of  his  manu- 
script compositions.  He  did  not  despair,  but  re-wrote, 
and  afterwards  printed  and  published  every  one.  I  am 
bound  to  say  that  Rabbi  Abraham  is  not  responsible 
for  this  wonderful  story.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  fecundity  of  authorship  in  both.  It  was  an 
impressive  sight  to  see  the  old  man  mount  the  lofty 
Tebah  when  called  to  the  Law,  and  afterwards 
bless  the  congregation  at  the  conclusion  of  the  service 
as  they  filed  past  him,  young  and  old,  kissing  his 
hand,  which  he  then  laid  on  their  head  saying,  -jna  pin. 
He  was  the  last  to  leave  the  synagogue  with  his 


A  JUD/EO-PERSIAN    MANUSCRIPT 


SMYRNA  151 

Meshareth,  upon  whose  arm  he  leaned,  walking  with 
swift  strides,  but  bowed  with  age.  He  looked  like 
Irving's  Cardinal  Wolsey — his  stature  just  as  tall,  his 
flowing  robes  quite  as  picturesque,  his  environment 
perhaps  a  little  more  "  stagey." 

YOUNG  ISRAEL 

The  Alliance  schools  were,  of  course,  having  their 
vacation.  They  are  ably  directed  by  M.  Arie.  The 
buildings  are  very  suitable,  with  plenty  of  air,  and  not 
too  much  light.  The  boys'  school  was  once  the  Gover- 
nor's Konak,  the  girls'  was  specially  built  for  them. 
English  is  taught  to  the  boys,  but  many  of  the  leading 
citizens  think  that  English  would  be  useful  to  the  girls. 
Two  or  three  intelligent  young  men  told  me  that  they 
would  like  their  sisters  to  be  able  to  talk  English.  The 
British  colony  at  Smyrna  is  a  large  and  desirable  one — 
perhaps  a  couple  of  thousand.  Clerkships  in  English 
houses  are  freely  given  to  Alliance  pupils.  French,  or 
rather  France,  is  now  at  a  discount,  by  reason  of  the 
Dreyfus  affair,  but  Young  Israel  is  passionately  devot- 
ed to  England  because  it  treats  Jews  so  well.  Other 
synagogues  are  "  Portugal  "  and  the  "  Great."  The 
Yeshiboth,  of  which  that  of  R.  Hillel  and  of 
R.  Hai  Gagin  seem  the  most  important,  are  gener- 
ally owned  by  individuals,  usually  the  sons  or  descen- 
dants of  Rabbis.  The  books  are  neither  particularly 
old  nor  interesting.  Liturgies  are  conspicuous  by 
their  absence,  Responsa  predominate.  With  a  single 
exception,  I  met  with  unvarying  courtesy,  and  was  al- 
lowed to  look  at  the  books  as  much  as  T  liked.  The 
exception,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  turned  out  to  be  the  most 
influential,  or,  anyhow,  the  most  dreaded  man  in  the 


152  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

place.  It  was  Levi  Bechor,  a  septuagenarian,  who 
got  quite  cross  when  I  asked  him  to  show  me  his  manu- 
scripts. He  told  me  he  had  none,  and  would  not  show 
them  if  he  had,  because  thirteen  years  ago  an  English- 
man (  ?)  had  come  to  him,  and  after  being  right  royally 
fed,  had  repaid  his  hospitality  by  walking  off  with  two 
MSS.  I  pleaded  that  I  was  not  responsible  for  that 
misdeed,  but  he  was  inexorable,  although  he  did  give 
me  some  sweets  instead.  Levi  Bechor  is  by  profession 
an  astrologer,  or  fortune-teller.  He  is  highly  esteemed 
by  the  Turks  and  also,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  by  our  co-re- 
ligionists. He  charges  two  or  three  hundred  francs  a 
consultation,  and  has  been  summoned  to  Constanti- 
nople on  business,  and  eagerly  admitted  into  the  Serails 
there.  If  anybody  loses  anything,  Bechor  is  the  detec- 
tive who  is  expected  to  discover  the  thief,  and  I  was 
told  an  extraordinary  instance  of  his  sagacity.  A 
purse  was  lost  containing  money,  and  the  servants 
rushed  off  to  consult  him.  He  didn't  exactly  find  the 
purse,  but  he  convinced  everybody  of  his  supernatural 
powers  by  declaring  that  it  was  a  red  purse  that  was 
stolen,  and  this  was,  indeed,  the  case.  It's  very  un- 
lucky he  didn't  take  to  me.  I  don't  know  what  ill- 
luck  is  consequently  in  store.  Perhaps  a  calamity 
could  be  averted  if  I  could  get  for  him  a  call  to 
Scotland  Yard. 

A  DRAMATIC  PERFORMANCE 

The  (Salomon  de)  Rothschild  Hospital  is  close  to 
the  Alliance  schools.  The  women's  side  had  been  quite 
deserted  the  day  before  the  Festival,  but  there  were 
several  men  in  the  wards.  One  poor  boy  had  hurt'  his 
leg  by  a  fall,  and  undergone  an  operation.  He  was  a 


SMYRNA  153 

brave  little  fellow  and  hardly  winced  when  the  ban- 
dages were  changed,  though  he  was  evidently  in  much 
pain.  Another  patient  was  in  the  last  stage  of  con- 
sumption. On  the  Monday  night  an  amateur  dramatic 
performance  took  place  in  the  courtyard  of  the  hospi- 
tal. The  actors  were  ex-students  of  the  Alliance,  the 
piece,  La  grammaire  frangaise.  The  tickets  were  in 
Ladino — old  Spanish  in  Hebrew  letters.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  transliteration  of  my  ticket  into  Latin  char- 
acters :  "  No.  592 — Representacion  Teatral — Noche 
di  Lunes,  17  Tishri — Al  profito  del  Ospedal 
'  Rothschild  ' — Bilieto  di  Intrado — Presio  Medio  Med- 
jid."  The  piece  was  funny,  and  not  badly  acted,  but  a 
deafening  brass  band  made  the  intervals  between  the 
acts  quite  a  torture,  and  one  couldn't  help  thinking 
of  the  unhappy  patient  dying  upstairs. 

MAGNESIA 

On  the  Monday  I  went  to  Magnesia,  another  famous 
city  of  antiquity.  But  neither  a  colossal  statue  of 
Cybele  on  Mount  Sipylus,  nor  some  wonderful  pre- 
historic chambers  (tombs?)  cut  in  the  solid  rock  a 
few  miles  off,  could  restore  the  illusions,  which  van- 
ished as  one  bumped  along  in  a  Smyrna  and  Cassaba 
Railway  carriage.  There  are  about  two  thousand  Jews 
in  Magnesia — less  than  a  tenth  of  the  number  in  Smyr- 
na— but  the  Alliance  schools  are  excellent.  The  boys' 
school  was  built  ad  hoc,  the  girls'  used  to  be  the 
house  of  the  Greek  Archbishop,  and  is  therefore 
grander  but,  perhaps,  a  little  less  practical.  In  one 
of  the  rooms  they  are  taught  to  make  Smyrna  carpets. 
These  used  formerly  to  be  made  only  in  the  interior 
and  by  Turkish  women.  Jewesses  had  no  means  of 


154  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

earning  money,  except  the  unsatisfactory  one  of  as- 
sisting to  gather  in  the  grape  and  tobacco  crops.  The 
local  Jews  are  delighted  with  this  sensible  innovation, 
and  compete  for  the  honor  of  sending  their  girls  to 
the  classes,  but  there  is  not  room  for  a  quarter  of  those 
who  want  to  join.  M.  Alchalel  showed  me  some  of  the 
carpets  made  in  the  school.  They  seemed  admirable — 
all  but  one,  into  which  a  flashy  European  flower-pattern 
had  been  woven.  A  Smyrniote  carpet  merchant,  M. 
Habib,  the  President  of  the  Consistoire,  or  Communal 
Council,  has  contracted  to  purchase  at  market  price  all 
they  can  manufacture.  The  Consistoire,  by  the  by, 
is  a  representative  institution,  elected  by  ninety-six 
electors,  ten  chosen  by  each  synagogue  and  six  by  the 
Rabbis  of  Smyrna. 

A  WONDERFUL  MANUSCRIPT 

Magnesia  has  two  synagogues — one  about  sixty  and 
and  the  other  twenty  years  old.  In  the  latter  are 
preserved  two  massive  volumes  of  a  Massoretic  Pen- 
tateuch written  at  Barcelona  in  1289  by  the  son  of 
Reuben,  the  son  of  Todros  (Theodore),  for  Zerachia 
ben  Sheshet  ben  Zerachia.  The  old  covers  have  been 
replaced  by  new  ones  of  olive  wood,  and  the  margins 
have  been  thickly  gilded.  The  writing  is  magnificent 
and  the  letters  two  centimetres  long.  I  did  my  best  to 
photograph  a  couple  of  pages.  There  is  also  a  volume 
of  the  Prophets  and  Hagiographa  in  a  different  hand. 
These  were  probably  brought  to  Asia  Minor  by  Jewish 
refugees  from  Spain.  But  their  local  history  is  by  no 
means  so  commonplace.  It  tells  how  that  one  day, 
many,  many  years  ago,  the  River  Hermus  overflowed 
its  banks,  and  the  anxious  by-standers  noticed  a  huge 


SMYRNA  155 

and  ancient  coffin  floating  down  the  stream.  They 
tried  to  catch  hold,  but  it  eluded  their  grasp.  Then 
the  Greeks  or  Christians  tried  in  their  turn.  Again 
in  vain.  At  last  the  Jews  were  called,  and  they 
brought  it  to  shore  and  landed  it  without  the  slightest 
difficulty.  The  coffin  was  opened  and  found  to  contain 
a  skeleton  and  four  volumes  in  characters  which  none 
could  read  but  the  Jews.  The  Turks  gave  the  books 
to  them,  but  kept  the  skeleton,  which  they  buried 
with  due  solemnity  in  the  Urum  Jami,  once  a 
Basilike,  but  now  a  Mosque,  at  Magnesia.  In  the  dead 
of  night  the  Rabbi  saw  a  vision,  and,  behold,  the  man 
appeared  that  had  been  thus  honored,  and  declared 
that  he  had  been  no  Turkish  saint,  but  a  pious  Jew, 
and  begged  his  body  might  be  removed  from  un- 
hallowed ground.  Next  night  the  Jews  by  stealth 
disinterred  the  stranger's  bones  and  reburied  them  in 
their  own  God's-acre.  And  to  this  day  that  grave 
in  Urum  Jami  is  empty,  though  the  Ishmaelites 
know  it  not.  Anyhow  the  Jews  had  the  four  volumes, 
though  one  was  taken  away  one  night  by  a  mysterious 
Ashkenazi,  who  had  studied  it  day  after  day  until 
the  fatal  evening  when  it  and  he  both  vanished.  The 
cemeteries  are  certainly  ancient,  but  though  we  dug 
there  for  some  hours  we  were  unable  to  find  any  Geni- 
zoth. 

BOUNAR  BASHI 

On  the  Tuesday  I  went  to  Bounar  Bashi  ( =  Wa- 
ter Plenty),  at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  a  couple  of  hours' 
drive  from  Smyrna.  Here  there  is  a  small  number 
of  Jews  with  a  little  synagogue  and  a  Yeshibah, 
with  a  large  collection  of  books  formed  by  Hali  Judah 


156  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Amado.  His  great  grandson  sold  me  about  a  dozen 
manuscripts,  so  that  I  didn't  have  my  drive  for  nothing. 
I  could  not  hear  of  any  other  Hebrew  MSS.,  except 
a  fragment  of  the  "  Tachkemoni "  much  damaged 
by  fire  and  water,  and  a  parchment  "  Guide  of  the  Per- 
plexed." The  Greek  Orthodox  College,  called  Evan- 
gelical, possesses  a  museum  in  which  there  is  a  fine 
illustrated  Greek  MS.  of  the  Septuagint  to  the  Penta- 
teuch and  the  Former  Prophets  with  the  Catena,  proba- 
bly of  the  eleventh  century.  There  are  two  or  three 
pictures  on  each  folio — some  of  them  very  realistic. 
The  forbidden  birds  are  all  pictorially  represented,  and 
the  stoning  of  A'chan  is  ghastly  but  instructive.  The 
book  belonged  (?)  to  an  Archbishop  and  was  probably 
once  in  the  monastery  at  Mount  Athos.  I  also  heard  of 
some  Abyssinian  theological  writings,  which  had  been 
offered  to  the  British  Museum,  but  not  been  accepted. 

RHODES 

On  the  5th  of  October  I  was  at  Rhodes  ( onn  ) .  In 
the  city  of  that  name,  there  are  three  thousand 
five  hundred  Jews,  two  synagogues,  and  five  Chevroth, 
but  no  school.  The  community  is  very  anxious  that 
one  should  be  established,  and  the  Alliance  Israelite 
Universelle  has  been  in  treaty  with  them  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  so  far  without  practical  result.  The  oldest 
synagogue  dates  from  the  times  of  the  Knights,  or 
Chevaliers,  and  is  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  years 
old.  Its  shape  is  something  like  that  of  the  ancient 
Toledo  synagogue.  There  are  three  parallel  aisles 
divided  off  by  a  double  arch.  In  the  centre  aisle  is  a 
very  high  Tebah  extending  half-way  across,  and 
opposite  it  is  the  Ark  let  into  the  wall.  To  the  ex- 


SMYRNA  157 

treme  left  is  a  fourth  aisle,  separated  from  the  main 
building  by  five  latticed  windows,  and  constituting  a 
women's  synagogue  on  the  ground  floor.  This  ap- 
parently failed  to  furnish  sufficient  accommodation  for 
the  fair  sex  (very  fair,  by  the  way,  in  Rhodes),  and  so 
a  modern  gallery  has  been  recently  added  at  the  wes- 
tern end.  The  roof  is  flat,  supported  by  a  great  many 
oak  rafters  black  with  age,  the  floor  is  a  neat  mosaic 
of  black  and  white  pebbles,  and  there  is  a  skylight 
over  the  Tebah,  raised  a  little  so  as  to  compensate  for 
the  elevation  of  the  platform.  The  official  head  of 
the  community  is  the  Chacham  Bashi,  R.  Moses  France, 
but  the  acting  head  and  Ab  Beth  Din  is  R.  Moses 
Israel,  the  only  instance,  outside  Russia,  that  I  know 
of  where  the  "  Crown  Rabbi "  does  not  officiate  de 
facto.  The  people  are  all  clean  and  good-looking, 
and  so  are  their  streets.  Black  and  white  mosaics, 
by  way  of  flooring,  seem  very  common,  and  remind  one 
of  the  space  in  front  of  the  coastguards'  cottages  on  the 
cliffs  in  England.  As  in  Smyrna,  all  the  Jews  seemed 
to  have  Tabernacles  of  their  own,  erected  in  yard  or  on 
balcony,  out  of  the  slightest  wooden  framework,  cov- 
ered with  white  sheeting,  roofed  by  bulrushes  and 
myrtle  branches,  and  sometimes  decorated  with  paper 
garlands.  No  books  to  speak  of  in  Rhodes — a  couple 
of  Yeshiboth — a  little  MS.  Hebrew  Bible,  unpunc- 
tuated,  belonging  to  M.  Bohaz  Menache,  Membre 
a  la  cour  d'appel  du  Vilayet  de  I'Archipel. 

MERSINA 

A  few  hours  later  the  good  ship  "  Venus  "  brought 
us  on  to  Mersina,  where  Jewish  people  seem  distin- 
guished by  their  absence.  There  is  just  a  Minyan, 


158  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

no  Shochet,  but  a  Succah.  Men  come  here  without 
their  wives  and  children,  and  eat  no  meat  until  they 
get  home  again.  Pompeiopolis,  out  of  the  stones  of 
which  Mersina  is  built,  doubtless  contained  more  of 
our  co-religionists.  M.  Cattegno,  of  Salonica,  said 
that  land  was  cheap,  and  cotton  and  wool  and  silk  most 
plentiful,  and  he  maintained  that  Asia  Minor  in  general 
and  Mersina  in  particular  were  better  worth  colonizing 
than  the  Argentine.  And  yet  even  at  Konieh,  the 
terminus  of  the  great  railway  to  Constantinople,  there 
are  no  Jews,  at  Adana  only  one — the  Judge  of  the 
Tribunal  of  Commerce — and  at  Alexandretta  only  fif- 
teen families. 

Alexandretta  is  the  starting  point  of  the  caravan 
route  for  Aleppo,  where  there  are  at  least  ten  thous- 
and Jews  and  sundry  "  boutons." 


ALEPPO 

Situation  —  The  Ghetto  —  The  Aleppo  Codex  —  The  Geni- 
zah  —  Aleppo  in  the  Middle  Ages  —  Schools  —  A  Lucky 
Find. 

SITUATION 

ALEPPO  (in  Arabic  Haleb,  in  Hebrew  ^n  or  ia<l?n,  but 
generally  mi*  D"ix  or  roiv,  Aram  Zobah,  or  Zobah  alone, 
or  abbreviated  V"IK)  can  boast  one  of  the  most  ancient 
Jewish  communities.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  sixtieth 
Psalm,  and  though  ten  days'  journey  north  of  Damas- 
cus (see  Ebn  Haukal,  the  Arabian  geographer  of 
the  tenth  century,  edit.  Ouseley,  p.  49)  is  traditionally 
regarded  as  the  most  northerly  point  to  which  a  Pales- 
tinian Jew  might  journey  without  being  regarded  as 
a  traveller.  In  marriage  contracts  (  nmro)  made  in 
the  Holy  Land,  it  is  still  stipulated  that  the  husband 
should  give  his  wife  a  conditional  divorce,  which 
comes  into  operation  if  he  journeys  to  foreign  parts. 
The  southern  limit  outside  which  the  Got  com- 
mences to  operate  is  Alexandria,  the  northern,  Aleppo. 
This  provisional  divorce  was  a  device  intended  to  pro- 
tect the  wife  from  everlasting  widowhood  in  case  the 
adventurous  husband  did  not  return  and  was  not  heard 
of.  Quite  recently,  the  great  Arctic  explorer  Nord- 
jenskold  resorted  to  the  same  expedient  with  regard 
to  the  wife  he  left  behind  him.  The  Jewish  Law  will 
not  "  presume  "  death  in  the  case  of  an  absent  husband, 
however  many  years  he  may  have  been  missing. 
I  chose  the  shortest  way  to  Aleppo.  This  starts 


160  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

from  the  port  of  Alexandretta  (Scanderun),  where 
there  is  a  bare  Minyan  of  Jews,  and  proceeds  by  way 
of  the  picturesque  pass  of  Beilan  (Pylae  Syriacae). 
The  road  climbs,  skirts  the  lake  of  Antioch,  and  crosses 
a  weary  waste  of  ancient  ruins.  This  bridlepath  is 
fifty  miles  nearer  than  the  modern  coach  road,  but  is 
terribly  wearisome  and  lonely.  Carriages  from  Alex- 
andretta take  two  to  three  days  and  nights  to  reach 
Aleppo. 

Aleppo  is  a  walled  city  of  much  commercial  impor- 
tance on  the  road  to  Bagdad  and  Southern  Persia. 
In  Shakespeare's  time,  however,  its  importance  was  en- 
hanced by  the  fact  that  it  lay  on  the  great  trade  route 
to  India.  Commerce  is  still  the  ground  of  its  attrac- 
tiveness to  the  Jew,  who,  despite  the  Aleppo  boil  and 
other  discomforts,  has  always  affected  it  at  the  cost 
of  being  despised  by  his  more  literary  co-religionists 
of  Damascus  and  Bagdad. 

THE  GHETTO 

The  Jews  of  Aleppo  still  live  in  a  quarter  of  their 
own,  very  much  like  an  Italian  ghetto,  divided  from 
the  rest  of  the  city  by  a  gate,  close  to  which  there 
is  an  inscription  in  Hebrew  dated  Ab  oir\K,  i.  e.,  1349. 
The  chief  synagogue  is  very  ancient  and  has  many 
peculiarities.  There  are  several  modern  additions 
to  it,  but  the  main  structure  is  dated  by  the  Abbe 
Chagnot  as  early  as  the  fourth  century.  It  has  several 
inscriptions,  some  carved  on  its  walls,  others  painted 
on  them.  One  is  as  late  as  1861,  another  as  early  as 
834.  The  latter  is  on  a  chapel  stated  to  have  been 
erected  by  Mar  Ali  ben  Nathan  b.  Mebasser  b.  Di«n. 
The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  inscription : — 


ALEPPO 


ID  nj3  mpn  nr 


161 


t?  ijiDDi  IJTTD 
tavh  npnir  jSrin 

Only  four  letters  are  starred,  so  that  the  date  is 
probably  1145,  sel.  =  834.  The  local  Jews,  however, 
assume  that  all  the  letters  count  in  the  BID,  but  that 


SYNAGOGUE   AT  ALEPPO 


no  thousand  is  omitted,  so  that  the  date  would  be  654 
sel.,  i.  e.,  345  of  the  common  era !  The  letters  are  cer- 
tainly very  archaic,  but,  pace  the  Abbe  Chagnot,  so 
early  an  inscription  should  not  be  accepted  as  such 
without  further  evidence.  There  are  several  similar 
chapels  surrounding  the  main  building,  evidently 
added  from  time  to  time,  as  the  community  grew. 
In  each  of  these  Minyan  is  separately  held.  A  like 
arrangement  exists  in  P>okhara,  and  traces  of  it  still 
survive  in  the  ancient  Roman  ghetto.  The  chief  pe- 


162  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

culiarity  of  the  Aleppo  synagogue  is  a  raised  pulpit 
called  then'1?**  nou approached  by  a  flight  of  some  twenty 
steps  and  still  used  for  the  solemnization  of  a  B'rith 
Milah. 

THE  ALEPPO  CODEX 

Of  chief  literary  interest  is  a  chapel  to  the  extreme 
west  behind  the  tsniDn  piK  with  a  stone  sarcophagus 
and  a  vaulted  roof.  Local  tradition  has  it  that  here 
the  apparition  of  Elijah  the  Prophet  had  been  seen, 
and  it  had  saved  the  community  during  one  of  its  nu- 
merous persecutions.  In  this  damp  shrine  the  famous 
Massoretic  Codex,  the  pride  of  the  Aleppo  Jews,  is 
reverently  preserved.  This  is  the  so-called  Codex  of 
Aaron  (Abu  Said)  ben  Asher,  supposed  to  have  been 
written  about  980.  Dr.  Wickes  in  his  treatise  on  the 
accentuation  of  the  twenty-one  so-called  prose  Books 
of  the  Old  Testament  (Oxford,  1887)  gives  a  facsimile 
of  one  of  its  pages,  and  proves  that  it  was  not  written 
before  the  eleventh  century.  Dr.  Ginsburg,  however, 
in  his  Introduction  to  the  Hebrew  Bible  (London 
1897),  ignores  this  scepticism,  and  quotes  the  colo- 
phons given  in  the  YSD  pN  and  in  nai^n  (numbers 
47  and  48,  Lyck,  1857).  I  examined  the  MS.  carefully 
and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Wickes  and 
Neubauer  and  other  scholars  are  right  and  that  it  is 
only  a  copy  of  the  original  codex  of  Aaron  ben  Asher 
two  or  three  centuries  later.1  The  following  are 
two  other  colophons  in  the  MS.  which  are  not  quoted 
by  any  authority.  I  copied  them  because  they  throw 

1  See  Neubauer,  Studia  Biblica.  TIT,  24.     Revue  dcs  Etudes 
Juivcs,  XV,  316,  and  Ginsburg,  op.  cit.  p.  242. 


ALEPPO  163 

light  on  the  problem  how  the  MS.  left  the  Karaites 
and  became  the  property  of  the  Rabbanite  Jews  of 
Jerusalem. 

tsnpn  Yjra  D'JDBTI  D'j:nn  Sx-w  S^  'nS  Bnp     (a 

D'oSiy  'D^iy1?!  obi^b  Sw  vh"\  "orr  K1? 
tsnpn  vya  D'jDtyn  iinhnn  'Sjn  by  'n1?  trip     (b 

But  this  is  not  the  only  codex  of  which  the  Aleppo 
Jews  can  boast.  In  the  same  place  is  a  beautifully 
illuminated  Pentateuch  in  two  columns  written  very 
large  with  the  Haftaroth  and  Megilloth.  Unfor- 
tunately it  is  much  damaged  by  damp.  Then  there  is 
another  Massoretic  Pentateuch  with  a  colophon, 
•jro  pnr  raa  jro  tsnpn  omaK  i"nj  tnp.  But  the  gem 
of  the  collection  is  a  fourth  MS.,  also  a  Pentateuch, 
with  the  Hebrew  Text  and  Targum  written  in  alter- 
nate verses.  It  contains  very  copious  Massoretic  lists 
both  at  the  beginning  and  the  end.  The  colophon 
states  that  it  was  finished  on  the  I5th  Tammuz,  5101, 
i.  e.,  1341.  There  is  a  note  beginning  Drro&on"nn'n;nDty 
Kona,  "  I  heard  from  Rabbi  Abraham  of  Rome  etc.," 
which  points  to  an  Italian  scribe.8 

THE  GENIZAH 

Over  the  synagogue  there  is  a  Yeshibah,  and,  in  a 
secret  chamber  in  the  eaves  of  the  roof  of  one  of 
the  side  chapels  is  the  Genizah.  This  was  as  full 
of  dust  as  the  famous  one  at  Fostat,  but  much  less 
interesting  or  ancient.  Almost  all  I  found  there 
was  printed  matter,  and  of  this  the  most  curious  was 
the  Supplement  an  Journal  hcbreu  Ic  Libanon  of 

3  See  Kaufmann,  Memorial  Volume,  p.   131. 


164  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

the  nth  January,  1869,  being  an  account  in  Hebrew 
of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Alliance  Israelite 
Universelle,  at  which  M.  Joseph  Halevi  gave  the 
story  of  his  famous  mission  to  the  Falashas.  The 
Genizah  is  periodically  emptied,  and  its  contents  are 
taken  solemnly  to  the  Jewish  cemetery.  Their  burial  is 
supposed  to  induce  a  downfall  of  rain. 

Generally  speaking,  there  are  few  MSS.  of  impor- 
tance left  in  Aleppo.  There  is  a  «m3fD  or  ira  (Mas- 
soretic  Bible)  finished  in  Kislew,  1307,  belonging 
to  M.  Jarchi.  But  quite  interesting  is  a  reference  to 
Cochin  China  in  a  manuscript  of  the  mpn  ISD.  The 
book  itself  was  hardly  worth  buying.  This  is  the 
colophon  :  — 

SSn  "i  IIDJ  p  bNint?  n  -ODjn1?  -ison  nr 


tcnnS  D'D11  ruiDBO  D':nyn  p  raty  y^yz  .  .  .  D^EW  px  imr 
m  KIT  «p  Sjn  xrnn  n^ro  njnnn  r'jin  nj^  3« 


Samuel  b.  Hillel,  for  whom  the  book  was  written  in 
1497,  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  of  the  Syrian 
Jews  to  migrate  to  Cochin  China.  He  thus  establishes 
the  fact  that  the  Jews  of  Malabar  and  Aleppo  have 
been  in  close  relation  for  more  than  four  centuries. 
Wessely  in  his  edition  of  Abraham  Farissol's  obiy  mmx 
publishes,  as  an  appendix,  a  letter  by  Ezekiel 
Rachabi  to  Tobias  Boas,  telling  how  his  father  came  to 
Cochin  in  1646.  Aleppo,  being  on  the  trade  routes  be- 
tween Europe  and  Asia,  was  equally  familiar  with 
India  and  Italy.  In  Italy  many  of  its  Hebrew  books 
were  published,  notably  the  Ritual  of  the  Aleppo  Jews, 
recently  described  by  Dr.  Berliner  in  his  Aus  meiner 
Bibliothck,  but  which  I  sought  in  vain  in  Aleppo  itself. 


ALEPPO  165 

ALEPPO  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES 
The  traveller  Benjamin  of  Tudela  visited  Aleppo 
in  1173,  and  Alcharisi  about  fifty  years  later.  The 
former  calls  the  citadel  the  Palace  of  King  Noureddin, 
and  says  that,  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  there  were 
fifteen  hundred  Jewish  inhabitants,  of  whom  the  chief 
were  R.  Moses  el  Costandini,  R.  Israel,  and  a  R.  Seth. 
The  witty  author  of  the  "  Tachkemoni "  has  much  to 
say  in  praise  of  the  Jews  of  Aleppo  in  Makamat  17,  47, 
50,  and  especially  46.  He  calls  it  "  the  royal  City, 
Aleppo  the  blest." 

In  his  day,  the  leading  Jew  was  Joseph  Maghrabi 
Ibn  Aknin,  who  in  1195  migrated  from  Europe  by 
way  of  Egypt,  where  he  became  the  friend  of  Mai- 
monides,  who  wrote  for  him  the  "  Moreh  Nebuchim." 
Other  men  of  light  and  leading  were  Azariah,  and  his 
brother  Samuel,  R.  Nissim,  the  King's  Physician 
Eleazer,  Jeshua,  Jachim  Hananiah,  and  Joseph  ben 
Hisdei,  and  many  others.  Of  Aleppo  poets,  of  whom 
he  mentions  Moses,  Daniel,  and  Joseph,  Alcharisi 
thought  very  little.  The  best  was  R.  Joseph  b.  Zemach, 
who  had  good  qualities  but  made  bad  verses.  Their 
piety  must  have  been  extreme,  for  Eleazer  is  held  up 
to  scorn  for  having  once  travelled  on  the  Sabbath, 
although  it  was  at  the  king's  command.  In  1401, 
as  appears  from  notes  in  contemporary  MSS.  in 
the  Bodleian  library,  the  Jewish  quarter  was  pillaged, 
with  the  rest  of  the  city,  by  Tamerlane ;  and  a  Jewish 
saint  died  there  after  fasting  seven  months!  In  the 
sixteenth  century,  Samuel  Laniado  b.  Abraham,  and  in 
the  seventeenth,  Chaim  Cohen  b.  Abraham  were  repre- 


166  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

sentative  authors.  The  "  Mekor  Chajim  "  of  the  latter 
was  published  at  Constantinople  in  1649  and  at  Am- 
sterdam, by  the  famous  Manasseh  ben  Israel,  in  1650. 
Other  Aleppo  worthies  are  Isaac  Lopes  in  1690,  Isaac 
Berachah  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  Isaac  Athia 
about  1810. 

SCHOOLS 

It  is  estimated  that  the  present  number  of  Jews  is 
ten  thousand,  each  of  whom  has  to  pay  a  poll  tax  col- 
lected by  the  communal  chiefs.  Besides  various  pri- 
mary schools  (mm  liDSn),  where  only  Hebrew  and 
Arabic  are  taught,  there  is  a  boys'  school  founded  by 
the  Alliance  Israelite  in  1869  with  two  hundred  and 
fifty  pupils,  of  whom  ninety-six  pay,  and  a  girls'  school 
founded  in  1889  with  one  hundred  and  ninety-five 
pupils,  seventy-nine  of  whom  pay.  The  costume 
of  the  Jewess  resembles  that  of  the  natives,  and 
is  a  long  black  cloak  in  which  she  is  shrouded  from 
head  to  foot,  but  she  does  not  cover  her  face  with  a 
gauze  veil  like  her  Mohammedan  sister.  Her  moral 
character  stands  high,  but  there  was  a  troupe  of  singing 
girls  from  Damascus  in  the  city,  and  some  of  these 
were  Jewesses.  One  was  a  great  favorite  with  the 
young  people,  whose  enthusiastic  shouts  of  Kamanc, 
Tera!  (Encore,  Esther!}  gave  voice  to  their  appre- 
ciation of  her  histrionic  gifts.  The  girls  at  the  Alli- 
ance school  wear  European  dress.  The  Chief  Rabbi 
Abraham  Chalonei  was  degraded  by  the  local  Pasha 
in  1896,  and  replaced  by  a  Vakil  (substitute) 
Chacham  Bashi,  Salomon  Safdieh.  A  Hebrew  printing 


ALEPPO  167 

press  has  existed  for  a  few  years  in  Aleppo,  and  I  pos- 
sess the  rules  of  the  Jewish  Friendly  Society,  ninoi  nnii*, 
printed  there  in  red  letters  in  1898.  Everybody, 
and  especially  Raphael  Silvera,  treated  me  with  much 
kindness,  and  I  was  sorry  to  leave  them  after  only 
three  days'  stay.  I  confess  to  feeling  some  emotion 
when  my  hosts  applied  to  me  the  ritual  of  the  depart- 
ing traveller.  It  was  a  pretty  God-speed  with  which 
I  was  conducted  forth  from  the  city.  Psalm  cxxi  was 
solemnly  recited  as  a  dialogue  between  the  citizens 
and  their  departing  guest.  "  The  Lord  shall  guard 
thy  going  out  and  thy  coming  in,"  was  a  sufficiently 
comforting  message,  and  yet  I  felt  as  though  I  were 
officiating  at  my  own  funeral. 

A  LUCKY  FIND 

I  felt  the  keenest  disappointment  at  the  poor  results 
achieved  after  a  systematic  search  for  literary  treasure 
in  what — from  a  distance — seemed  so  rich  a  quarry. 
I  had  delved  and  groped  in  the  recesses  of  the  huge 
Genizah  of  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  largest  synagogues 
now  existing,  but  though  the  dust  was  more  acrid,  and 
the  work  far  dirtier  than  that  of  Fostat,  the  matrix  was 
modern,  and  the  dirt  not  pay  dirt.  I  left  the  ancient 
city  discouraged  and  disgusted,  but  just  as  I  reached 
the  gate,  a  poor  man  hurried  up  with  a  bundle  of  pages 
which  he  offered  me.  T  did  not  want  to  take  it,  but  by 
way  of  polite  negative  offered  him  half  a  mejidieh. 
"  It  is  yours,"  he  cried,  and  passed  me  the  bundle, 
which  I  accepted  without  enthusiasm,  though  with  a 
sort  of  idea  that  it  might  serve  as  Rcisclitcratur. 


i68  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

When,  however,  I  came  to  examine  it,  I  found  that  it 
was  a  veritable  treasure-trove — better  than  anything 
I  had  voluntarily  acquired.  It  turned  out  to  be  the 
unknown  Divan,  or  rather  a  very  large  fragment  of 
the  Divan,  composed  by  Elazar  ha-Babli,  an  Eastern 
poet,  probably  of  Bagdad,  who  was  on  terms  of  inti- 
macy with  the  son  of  Maimonides  and  most  of  the 
other  Hebrew  worthies  of  his  time. 


THE  SCHOOLS  AT  TETUAN 

DURING  a  short  visit  to  Morocco,  in  1894,  I  had  an  op- 
portunity of  seeing  and  admiring  the  girls'  and  boys' 
schools  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  at  Tetuan.  Notwith- 
standing the  coincidence  of  Ramadan  and  Easter, 
which  at  Tangiers  had  been  utilized  to  make  a  Jewish 
holiday,  the  schools  were  at  work,  and  the  pupils  were 
busily  and  happily  employed.  The  school  buildings  are 
well  suited  for  their  purpose,  but  essentially  foreign  to 
their  environment.  Instead  of  their  native  marble  and 
brilliant  azulejo  tiles,  the  Tetuanese  are  here  taught 
to  admire  the  bricks  and  mortar  of  Marseilles.  The 
building,  I  was  told,  was  built  by  the  French,  and 
bodily  imported  from  France,  at  a  cost  of  eighty- 
thousand  francs,  although  a  third  of  that  sum  would 
probably  have  sufficed  to  adapt  a  Moorish  palace  to 
the  requirements  of  a  modern  school-house.  That 
such  a  model  is  by  no  means  unsuitable  is  proved  by 
the  English  school  at  Tangiers,  which,  with  its  open 
galleries  on  the  upper  floors  round  the  centre  atrium 
into  which  the  school-rooms  open,  is  more  artistic  but 
not  less  convenient  than  the  most  modern  of  London 
school  buildings. 

Such  as  it  is,  however,  the  boys'  school  at  Tetuan 
is  without  question  practically  built.  There  is  only 
one  story ;  eight  class  rooms  occupy  two  sides  of  a 
central  courtyard  planted  with  lime  trees ;  lavatories 
take  up  a  third  side,  and  a  library  and  the  head-master's 
office  and  entrance  occupy  the  fourth  side.  There  is 


i/o  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

a  similar  quadrangle  for  the  girls,  similarly  planned 
out,  and,  of  course,  with  a  separate  entrance,  giving  on 
the  main  and  many-arched  lane  of  the  Mellah  in  which 
the  Jews  are  locked  up  night  and  day.  The  head- 
mistress is  Mdlle.  Ben  Simul,  who,  like  one  of  her 
subordinates,  has  been  well  trained  at  the  Ecole  Bi- 
schoffsheim  in  Paris.  The  Director  of  the  boys  is 
M.  Nissim  Levy,  who  has  occupied  his  post  for 
about  two  years.  He  has  six  masters  under  him  and 
three  hundred  and  fifty-six  boys,  of  whom  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six,  or  just  about  half,  pay  school 
fees.  Among  the  pupils  are  two  Catholics  and  one 
Arab.  Except  in  the  lowest  class  the  Spanish  jargon, 
which  is  the  vernacular  of  most  of  the  Moorish  Jews, 
is  not  spoken.  French  and  Hebrew  are  the  only 
languages  taught.  The  circulating  library,  which  for 
contents  is  beyond  praise,  cannot  boast  a  single  English 
book,  not  even  a  dictionary,  but  there  are  translations, 
into  French,  of  Quentin  Durward,  and  Kompert's 
Ghetto  Stories,  and  Graetz's  History  of  the  Jews. 
The  pupils  are  admirable  French  scholars,  the  only 
mistake  they  made  in  a  somewhat  difficult  piece  of 
dictation  was  a  superfluous  "  s  "  in  "  leur."  But  it  is 
questionable  whether  an  English  master  would  not  be 
of  advantage  to  the  school.  As  it  is,  the  only  outlets 
for  the  Jewish  emigrant  from  Tetuan  are  Algiers  and 
Spanish  South  America.  If  the  boys  had  a  little 
knowledge  of  English,  Egypt  might  provide  a  fresh 
field  for  their  energies  and  ambitions.  With  the 
Hebrew  instruction,  which  includes  Rashi  and 
Dinim,  I  was  specially  pleased.  This  is  the  less 
surprising,  seeing  that  Tetuan  is  the  seat  of  the  Chief 
Moorish  Rabbi,  to  whom  the  Jews  of  all  Morocco  and 


THE  SCHOOLS  AT  TETUAN  171 

even  of  Gibraltar  appeal  on  questions  of  doctrine  and 
dogma  and  ritual. 


SPANISH   COSTUMES  OP  JEWESSES   IN   ALGIERS 

The  girls'  school  comprises  two  hundred  and  eighty 
pupils,  of  whom  only  ninety-five  can  afford  to  pay. 
Three  of  them  are  Catholics,  but  there  is,  of  course,  no 


172  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Mohammedan  little  girl.  Here,  too,  French  is  the  lan- 
guage of  authority,  but  I  must  confess  to  having  been 
more  interested  in  the  class  for  dressmaking,  where 
I  saw  a  smart-looking  Paris  frock  being  built,  in 
primary  colors,  for  a  Jewish  bride.  I  sighed  for  the 
artistic  draperies  which  our  emigrces  had  brought 
over  to  Tangiers  from  Castile,  but  admired  the  fur- 
belows of  this  century  and  the  eagerness  with  which 
they  were  being  adopted  by  our  dark  young  sisters 
in  1894.  The  Anglo- Jewish  Association  and  the  Lon- 
don Council  of  the  Morocco  Relief  Fund  give  this 
girls'  school  an  annual  subvention,  and  the  money  is 
well  bestowed.  English  is  less  necessary  for  the  girls 
than  for  the  boys,  but  several  of  our  co-religionists  in 
Gibraltar  have  married  their  cousins  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Straits.  The  Tetuan  schools  were  founded  as 
early  as  1862,  and  have  for  many  years  contributed 
more  than  their  share  of  teachers  to  the  various 
schools  of  the  Alliance  Israelite.  They  together  cost 
only  fifteen  thousand  francs  per  annum. 


PERSIAN  JEWS 

Petrovsk  —  A  Synagogue  —  Jewesses  —  Travelling  in  the 
Caucasus  —  Across  the  Caspian  to  Persia  —  Achalcig  Jews  — 
A  Persian  Gehazi  —  From  Reshd  to  Teheran  —  The  Maale 
Yehudiya  —  The  Great  Synagogue  —  Medical  Practice  — Sia- 
kal  —  The  Sadr  e  Aazam  —  Jewish  Disabilities  —  Notables. 

PETROVSK 

FROM  the  Black  Sea  to  Calcutta,  from  Bagdad  to 
Kai-fong-foo,  we  meet  with  Persian  Jews,  that  is  to 
say,  Persian  in  the  sense  that  we  in  Europe  are  "  Ger- 
man." They  worship,  or  used  to  worship,  in  the 
Persian  Rite ;  they  speak  Persian ;  they  transliterate 
Persian  into  Hebrew  characters ;  they  have  a  Hebrew- 
Persian  literature ;  and  they  hold  a  vague  sort  of  tra- 
dition that  they  are  descended  from  Persian  ancestry. 
Their  Hebrew-Persian  literature,  however,  is  almost 
unknown,  and  as  late  as  October,  1895,  the  learned 
Dr.  Neubauer,  with  all  his  scholarly  accuracy,  could 
write  only  in  a  tentative  sort  of  way :  "  It  is  certain 
that  the  Persian  Jews  had  a  ritual  and  literature  of 
their  own,  which  we  at  present  know  only  through  a 
few  MSS.  of  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  the  British 
Museum,  and  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  St.  Peters- 
burg." '  Bible  manuscripts  apart,  there  are,  in  all 

1  See  Dr.  Neubauer's  article  in  the  Jewish  Quarterly  Review, 
viii.,  139,  on  the  "  Jews  in  China."  The  same  authority,  in  his 
monumental  Catalogue  of  the  Hebrew  Manuscripts  in  the 
Bodleian,  wrote  in  1886,  apropos  of  facsimiles,  that  "  nearly  all 
branches  of  writing  are  represented  except  the  Persian  square 
characters,  of  which  the  British  Museum  only  possesses  a  sin- 
gle MS.  of  a  late  date  written  at  Qum." 


174  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

three  together,  barely  a  dozen  volumes  of  such  MSS. 
Dr.  Neubauer's  remark,  made  as  it  was  apropos  of 
those  mysteries  of  civilization,  the  Chinese  Jews,  was 
especially  startling  because  of  its  reminding  us  that 
the  Jews  of  Persia  were  almost  as  great  a  mystery  to 
us  as  their  lost  brethren  of  the  far  East.  And  yet 
they  are  so  near  that  in  something  less  than  six  weeks, 
and  in  two  successive  summer  vacations,  I  have  been 
able  to  visit  them  in  their  old-world  homes  of  Teheran, 
and  Samarkand,  and  Bokhara,  and  bring  away  a  hun- 
dred manuscripts  and  more  to  fill  up  a  gap  in  our 
literature,  or  at  least  in  our  libraries. 

The  roads  to  Turkestan  and  Persia  do  not  diverge 
till  one  reaches  the  Caspian  Sea.  There  are  two 
great  ports  of  embarkation,  Baku,  the  City  of  Fire, 
and  Petrovsk.  Each  is  the  terminus  of  a  great  line 
of  railway.  Baku  ends  the  Transcaucasian  Railway, 
which  begins  at  Batoum  and  is  only  about  a  thousand 
miles  long.  Petrovsk  has  in  the  last  two  years  become 
the  end  of  the  great  trunk  line  of  Russia  three 
thousand  versts  further  than  Moscow.  From  Calais 
to  Petrovsk  takes  about  seven  days.  One  travels 
overland  throughout,  and  in  Europe  all  the  time. 
Only  for  a  few  hours  in  the  last  day  does  one  get  a 
distant  glimpse  of  the  great  peaks  of  the  Caucasus, 
rising  out  of  the  dead  flat  of  the  steppe.  The  rest  is 
monotony  exemplified. 

Petrovsk  itself  is  deadly  dull.  But  the  railway 
and  the  great  oil  discoveries  at  Grosni,  a  few  hours 
off,  have  made  it  quite  important  as  a  commercial 
centre.  Of  course,  where  commerce  is,  our  co-reli- 
gionists are  not  far  to  seek.  And  so,  though  Petrovsk 
is  many  days'  journey  from  the  Pale  of  Jewish  Settle- 


PERSIAN  JEWS  175 

ment,  several  Russian  and  Polish  Jews  are  to  be  found 
there,  all  specially  favored  and  graciously  permitted 
to  try  to  make  a  living  in  the  new  town.  I  must 
confess  to  some  degree  of  trepidation  in  daring  to  ask 
after  Jews  in  Holy  Russia.  I  did  so  with  bated  breath 
and  whispering  humbleness.  Most  of  the  people  I 
asked  did  not,  or  could  not,  tell  me.  At  last  I  was 
directed  to  a  shop  which  was  closed,  for  it  was  Satur- 
day. The  shopkeeper  did  turn  out  to  be  a  Jew,  and 
with  plentiful  gesture,  and  language  more  voluble 
than  intelligible,  showed  me  the  way  to  a  little  shed 
near  the  Bazaar,  in  the  old  town,  where  the  Ashkenazi 
Jews  were  going  to  pray.  Disappointed  at  finding  a 
number  of  brethren  in  no  way  different  from  those  to 
be  met  within  hearing  of  Bow  Bells,  I  asked  in  Yiddish 
whether  there  were  no  "  Gorski  Evraei  "  or  "  Achal- 
cig  Judcn  "  in  the  place.  "  O  yes,"  they  said,  "  they 
are  the  oldest  inhabitants,  but  we  do  not  pray  with 
them." 

A  SYNAGOGUE 

After  much  persuasion  an  ancient  congregant,  short 
of  stature,  blear-eyed,  and  coated  to  the  heels,  under- 
took to  escort  me  part  of  the  way  to  the  Shool  of 
the  "  Gorski  Evraei."  En  route  he  told  me  that  his 
own  synagogue  had  been  burnt  down  some  months 
previously,  and  they  had  nearly  finished  building  a 
new  one,  and  that  the  shed  where  I  had  found  him 
was  only  a  temporary  house  of  prayer.  He  would  not 
go  all  the  way  with  me,  but  hurried  back  as  soon  as 
the  Persian  Shool  was  in  sight.  This  turned  out  to  be 
a  small  brick  building,  four-square  and  detached,  with 
the  Chazan's  house  and  a  courtyard  adjoining.  It 


176  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

was  a  sort  of  miniature  Bevis  Marks,  and  about  a 
hundred  years  old.  The  interior  was  bright  enough — 
the  walls  were  washed  a  light  blue,  a  circular  Almemar 
occupied  the  middle  of  the  building.  There  were 
windows  on  three  sides — one  commanded  the  street 
and  approach  to  the  synagogue,  another  the  mountains 
and  the  sea,  and  the  third  curtained  off  and  concealed 
the  dozen  ladies  or  so  who  prayed  in  the  adjoining 
passage.  The  fourth,  or  western  side,  was  occupied 
by  the  Ark,  which  was  festooned  in  green  and  sur- 
mounted by  a  crown,  heraldically  displayed  over  a 
shield  with  stag  and  unicorn  by  way  of  supporters. 
In  the  centre  of  the  shield  was  its  dedicatory  prayer 
in  memory  of  a  lost  son  who  had  died  in  childhood. 
Eastern  synagogues  are  full  of  such  memorials.  One 
such,  an  inscription  carved  in  wood,  is  still  to  be  seen 
in  the  ancient  "  Genizah "  Synagogue  at  Cairo. 
The  rest  of  the  synagogue  furniture  consisted  of 
very  low  benches  with  movable  upright  desks  by 
way  of  lectern  for  each  worshipper.  The  Shool 
door  was,  unnecessarily,  protected  by  a  Mezuzah, 
and  on  the  walls  hung  a  Russian  and  Hebrew 
calendar  and  a  V crzcichniss  of  the  holy  places  in 
Palestine,  printed,  alas,  in  Germany  or  for  German 
use. 

JEWESSES 

The  congregation  was  distinctly  picturesque.  The 
dozen  ladies  who  prayed  in  the  passage  adjoining  sup- 
plied a  good  deal  of  local  color.  But  their  decorum 
was  unimpeachable,  for  to  avoid  distracting  the  atten- 
tion or  even  attracting  the  notice  of  worshippers  of  a 
sterner  sex,  they  arrived  after  the  men  were  all  in 


PERSIAN  JEWS  177 

synagogue  and  left  before  service  was  over.  And  yet 
as  they  left  the  building,  I  noticed  through  window 
No.  i  many  a  fair  Circassian  looking  backward  even 
as  their  mother  Eve  on  leaving  Paradise.  About  fifty 
men  were  present.  All  wore  the  high  black  (or  occa- 
sionally white)  astrakhan  fez,  and  half  of  them, 
especially  the  lads,  were  clad  in  the  imposing  national 
costume  of  the  Caucasus,  cartridges  and  all.  They 
looked  very  neat  and  warlike  with  their  long  gray 
surtout,  strapped  tightly  at  the  waist,  a  dozen  cartridge 
pockets  all  in  a  row  across  the  chest,  and  silver 
buckles  and  cartridge  cases  to  add  to  the  effect.  They 
were  all  tall  above  the  average,  and  their  faces  were 
distinctly  pleasing.  One  or  two  of  them  might  have 
stood  for  the  model  of  Albrecht  Diirer's  portrait  of 
himself,  or  masqueraded  as  bluff  King  Hal. 

TRAVELLING  IN  THE  CAUCASUS 

The  Caucasus  is  a  very  meeting  ground  of  nations. 
Its  predominating  dialects  are  Armenian  and  Turkish, 
but  the  indigenous  Jews  talk  Persian  to  one  another, 
and  few  know  any  Russian.  Here,  as  elsewhere, 
Hebrew  had  to  serve  as  our  common  language,  and  we 
got  along  well  enough  to  understand  one  another. 
They  told  me  that  they  talked  Persian  because  they 
were  the  descendants  of  the  Tribes  of  Israel  whom 
Shalmaneser,  King  of  Assyria,  had  carried  away  cap- 
tive and  "  placed  in  Halah  and  in  Habor  by  the  River 
of  Gozan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Medes  "  (II  Kings, 
xvii.).  The  real  reason  is  more  probably  the  fact  that 
till  about  a  century  ago  the  whole  of  the  Caspian 
coast  was  under  Persian  sway.  But  the  tradition  is 
widespread  among  the  Persian  Jews  and  in  the  Cau- 


178  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

casus  that  there  have  been  many  independent  Jewish 
tribes  until  quite  recent  years.  I  was  told  that  in  an 
Armenian  monastery  near  Kutais  ancient  records  are 
preserved  which  conclusively  prove  that  Jews  were 
paramount  in  the  country  three  or  four  centuries  ago. 
Some  were  converted  to  Christianity,  but  many  have 
remained  loyal  to  our  ancient  faith,  and  these  are 
treated  by  the  Russians  almost  as  kindly  as  are  the 
Karaites  of  the  Black  Sea.  The  Rabbi-Chazan,  who 
seemed  fairly  intelligent,  told  me  that  he  and  his 
family  and  many  of  his  flock  were  not  natives  of 
Petrovsk,  but  had  come  from  Sura,  a  place  in  the  hills 
about  five  hours'  distance  by  "phaeton" — that  ram- 
shackle jolting  car,  which  sounds  so  grand  in  English, 
but  connotes  so  much  discomfort  in  Russia.  He  said 
his  people  were  poor,  but  were  doing  better  since  rail- 
way times.  He  introduced  me  to  his  only  son,  "  the 
comforter,"  Menachem,  as  he  was  pathetically  called, 
for  all  his  brothers  had  died  in  childhood  at  Sura. 

The  service  was  conducted  entirely  by  the  Rabbi, 
the  ritual  was  Sephardic,  the  prayer  books  were  printed 
at  Leghorn,  Vienna,  and  Warsaw.  Mitzvoth  and  nrhy 
were  auctioned  as  occasion  arose.  There  were  no 
Cohanim  in  the  congregation,  and  I  was  called  up  both 
"  Cohen  "  and  "  Levi."  Two  wardens,  gloved  in  spot- 
less white  wool,  held  the  Sepher,  one  on  either  side  of 
the  reading  desk,  but  when  the  Reader  reached  the 
nnDin  (Deuteronomy  xxviii.  15),  the  two  silently  dis- 
appeared from  the  Almemar,  the  Rabbi  read  the  por- 
tion to  himself  in  an  awed  voice,  and  at  its  close  pro- 
nounced the  full  i"ot?  'D  for  the  whole  congregation, 
which  constitutes,  as  with  us,  part  of  the  Sabbath 
ritual  after  jpiis  Dip'.  Then  the  white  gloves  re- 


PERSIAN  JEWS  179 

sumed  their  office  and  the  service  proceeded,  the-p^p  ^D 
being  repeated  in  its  due  place  in  the  service.  The 
pronunciation  of  Hebrew  is  half-way  between  the 
Sephardic  and  Ashkenazic.  The  Kametz  is  pro- 
nounced "  o  "  and  Cholem  "  oi,"  but  the  consonants 
are  as  pronounced  by  Portuguese  Jews. 

After  service,  a  substantial  looking  burgher  invited 
.me  to  make  Kiddush  and  break  bread  with  him. 
The  meal  consisted  of  vodka,  cucumbers,  chilis,  and 
fowl  in  rice.  This  was  the  Zakuska,  then  water 
was  brought  in  for  us  to  wash  our  hands,  and  tryin 
was  made  over  two  big  Challahs,  which  looked  like 
huge  prehistoric  buns,  very  brown  inside  and  out. 
Host,  hostess,  and  children  sat  on  the  matted  floor, 
but  I  was  honored  with  a  chair. 

ACROSS  THE  CASPIAN  TO  PERSIA 

The  steamer  from  Petrovsk  to  Baku  generally  calls 
at  Derbend.  This  is  a  place  famous  for  its  ancient 
Jewish  colony,  and  was  visited  by  Tschorni,  who  de- 
scribes it  in  his  Travels  in  the  Caucasus  (  ni;'Don  IDD 
rpip  pw).  I  was  not  fortunate  enough  to  be  able 
to  land  and  verify  his  remarks.  But  I  have  been  in 
Baku  three  times,  and  spent  several  days  there. 

From  the  Jewish  point  of  view,  it  is  interesting 
quite  apart  from  its  mercantile  aspects.  In  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood  is  Ateshga,  a  famous  Parsee  Tem- 
ple, where  fire  from  the  earth  has  been  burning  for 
twenty-five  centuries.  Naphtha  springs  are  now  the 
devout  objects  of  pilgrimage  to  as  many  thousands  of 
commercial  travellers  as  to  the  Ciuebres,  who  used  to 
come  to  pray  at  the  sacred  fire  of  Ateshga.  Baku  was 
taken  from  the  Persians  by  Russia  in  1806,  and  till 


180  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

1872  the  petroleum  industry  was  a  monopoly.  In  1871 
there  was  only  a  single  drilled  well  in  the  whole 
Apsheron  Peninsula ;  there  are  now  several  hundreds. 
In  1879  there  were  15,604  inhabitants,  principally  Per- 
sians and  Armenians.  There  are  now  a  quarter  of  a 
million,  of  whom  several  thousand  are  Jews,  although 
Baku  remains  nominally  out  of  the  Pale  of  Jewish 
Settlement.  Several  strata  of  Jews  can  be  distinctly 
recognized,  for  they  remain  jealously  and  almost  geo- 
logically apart.  In  the  new — the  business  and  unin- 
teresting— quarter  of  the  city,  between  the  Docks 
and  the  Black  Town,  are  the  "  Russian  Jews," 
with  two  synagogues,  two  Kosher  restaurants, 
and  several  Chevras.  They  do  not  invite  com- 
ment, nor  are  they  in  any  other  respect  inviting. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  most  of  them  are  materialistic 
and  irreligious,  without  other  ideal  than  money- 
getting,  rapid,  clever,  unscrupulous.  They  have 
achieved  their  ideal  and  half  the  trade  is  in  their 
hands.  Many  of  them  have  purchased  the  favor  of 
the  powers  that  be,  by  submitting  to  baptism  and  be- 
coming Orthodox.  Some,  not  satisfied  with  a  single 
conversion,  have  artfully  doubled  the  process  with  a 
view  to  more  effectual  concealment  of  their  origin. 
One  man,  the  representative,  alas,  of  a  great  Jewish 
house  in  Paris,  became  Roman  Catholic  first  and  then 
Greek  Orthodox,  and  is  doubly  favored  as  being  a 
"  former  Roman." 

In  the  upper  town,  among  the  narrow  wynds  which 
cluster  round  the  ancient  minaret  of  the  Persian 
Mosque,  is  a  colony  of  Persian  Jews,  some  indigenous 
and  some  birds  of  passage,  trading  between  Reshd  and 
Baku.  They  have  no  MSS.  and  few  printed  books. 


PERSIAN  JEWS  181 

But  their  little  learning  suffices  to  make  their  Hebrew 
intelligible.  They  are  poor  but  not  discontented. 
Their  Minhag  is  that  of  the  Italian  printed  prayer 
book.  But  they  enjoy  the  proud  distinction  of  being 
regarded  by  the  Russians  as  indigenous  "  Gorski 
Evraei,"  or  Mountain  Jews.  Baku  is  their  headquar- 
ters, and  they  have  communities  and  synagogues  not 
only  here  and  in  Petrovsk,  Derbend,  and  Grosni,  but 
also  in  Kuba  and  Bakuba.  And  in  Baku  these  Persian 
Jews  told  me  something  really  extraordinary.  Pri- 
volni  is  a  sea-coast  village  between  Lenkoran  and 
Astara  on  Russian  soil,  and  the  whole  of  its  in- 
habitants have  lately  become  piy  "ij,  proselytes  to 
Judaism,  and  the  Russian  authorities  have  not  said 
them  nay,  nor  even  imposed  any  disabilities  upon 
them ! 

ACHALCIG  JEWS 

The  Achalcig  Jews  of  Baku  are  Georgians  and 
speak  Armenian.  Their  wives  and  daughters  are  not 
bad-looking,  but  they  hardly  approach  one's  idealized 
anticipations  of  Circassian  beauty.  Their  communi- 
ties are  to  be  found  all  through  the  Caucasus,  at  Tiflis 
the  capital,  at  Schilvan,  and  Poti,  and  Kutais,  but 
especially  at  Achalcig,  their  most  ancient  habitat, 
from  which  they  derive  their  name.  Kutais,  near  the 
Black  Sea,  is  famous  for  an  old  monastery  in  which 
are  said  to  be  archaic  records  proving  that  the  whole 
land  around  was  at  one  time  Jewish.  In  the  syna- 
gogue there  an  ancient  Massoretic  Hebrew  Bible  is 
preserved  with  almost  superstitious  devotion. 

The  Achalcig  Jews  are  good  business  men  and 
keen  travellers.  One  young  man,  Daniel  Raphael 


182  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Manoah,  from  Kutais,  boarded  our  train  at  Ros- 
tow,  many  days'  distance  from  his  home,  and  sold  us 
silk  shawls  with  a  charmingly  naive  insistence  that 
would  not  be  denied.  The  shawls  were  a  great  success 
as  presents,  and,  from  the  pecuniary  point  of  view,  I 
must  have  made  an  excellent  bargain  with  Manoah. 

A  PERSIAN  GEHAZI 

The  mail  steamer  from  Baku  to  Enzeli,  the  Persian 
port,  from  which  Teheran  is  usually  approached,  takes 
about  a  day  and  a  half  and  runs  once  a  week  in  the 
summer  and  fortnightly  in  the  winter.  We  just 
missed  the  boat,  and,  as  the  season  was  on  the  turn, 
could  not  risk  waiting  for  a  doubtful  next,  so  we 
looked  about  for  a  cargo  vessel.  At  last  we  heard 
of  a  little  launch  called  the  "  Nena,"  belonging  to  a 
Persian  merchant  Aschurowa,  and  manned  and  offi- 
cered by  Persians.  The  ship  agent  warned  us  not  to 
pay  anything,  for  that  we  would  be  carried  pour 
nos  beaux  yeux.  But  when  the  time  for  departure 
arrived,  the  wily  owner  who  had  relieved  us  of  our 
passports,  in  dumb  show  suggested  that  he  would  like 
sleeve-links  of  foreign  coin  as  a  souvenir.  We  tried 
to  pacify  him  with  Turkish  shillings,  he  would  have 
none  of  them.  Nothing  but  English  sovereigns  would 
satisfy  his  aesthetic  taste.  We  were  entirely  in  his 
hands,  and  so,  Gehazi-like,  he  had  his  will,  and  thus 
obliged  us  to  pay  twice  as  much,  and  take  twice  as 
long  as  ordinary  passengers  by  the  mail.  The 
"  Nena "  had  been  condemned  as  unseaworthy  two 
years  before  we  set  foot  upon  her.  She  was  certainly 
most  uncomfortable ;  we  had  to  sleep  on  the  open  deck, 
and  for  eight  days  our  only  distraction  was  to  watch 


PERSIAN  JEWS     .  183 

the  captain  at  his  devotions,  giving  orders  while 
prostrate  on  his  prayer  carpet.  No  further  ablutions 
were  permitted  us  than  the  pouring  of  water  on  our 
fingers  from  out  of  the  spout  of  a  kettle,  and  I  got 
into  serious  trouble  with  the  captain  for  venturing 
to  sully  a  fire  bucket  full  of  sea  water  by  the  addition 
of  a  little  soap.  The  passengers  lay  higgledy-pig- 
gledy before  the  mast. 

We  stopped  at  Astara  and  Lenkoran,  and  on  the 
third  day  reached  Enzeli.  We  were  rowed  up  the 
lagoon  by  ten  sturdy  oarsmen  for  a  couple  of  hours, 
and  then  reached  Peri  Bazaar,  where  the  long  ride 
begins  which  takes  the  traveller  in  four  or  five,  and 
sometimes  fourteen  days  to  Teheran,  by  way  of  Reshd 
and  Kazvin. 

FROM  RESHD  TO  TEHERAN 

By  this  short  route  Teheran  can  be  reached  in 
twelve  days  from  London,  if  one  is  very  lucky 
and  manages  to  catch  everything,  fevers  ex- 
cepted.  It  means  some  days'  riding  "  Chapar," 
changing  horses  two  or  three  times  a  day.  With  our 
own  horses,  and  the  postboy's  and  an  Armenian  ser- 
vant's and  the  luggage  horse,  we  formed  quite  a 
picturesque  caravan.  But  we  were  ever  so  much  more 
picturesque  than  comfortable.  As  the  Japanese  Colo- 
nel, Y.  Fukushima,  said  :  "  A  '  Chapar  '  pony  may  have 
three,  two,  one,  or  no  feet,  but  never  four."  The 
agony  of  its  amble,  after  an  inexperienced  rider  has 
been  bumped  on  a  Persian  saddle  for  a  dozen  hours  or 
so,  surpasses  belief.  The  only  thing  that  supported 
one  (the  horses  didn't)  was  the  hope  that  some  day 
jnvabit.  Well,  the  reminiscence,  though 


184  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

not  tender,  is  at  least  painless,  and  the  scenery  on  either 
side  of  the  mountain  pass  which  divides  Reshd  from 
Kazvin  will  certainly  not  be  easily  forgotten. 

From  Kazvin  to  the  capital  there  is  a  wide  road  upon 
which  carriages  do — and  with  prudence  can — drive. 
The  coachman  has  to  look  out  for  holes,  some  of  which 
are  large  enough  to  swallow  up  a  four-in-hand.  We 
were  fortunate  in  that  His  Excellency  the  Saad-es- 
Sultaneh,  the  "  Arm  of  the  Kingdom,"  Governor  of 
Kazvin  and  Postmaster  General  of  Northern  Persia, 
was  good  enough,  for  a  consideration,  to  let  us  have 
his  own  landau  and  four  horses.  His  Excellency, 
whose  Palace  of  Petunias  is  the  show  place  of  Kazvin, 
was  literally  our  Persian  Cook,  for,  not  only  did  he 
serve  as  Tourist  Agent  to  Teheran,  but  he  had  accom- 
panied his  Imperial  Master,  the  late  Shah,  in  his  memo- 
rable visit  to  Europe,  in  the  humble  capacity  of  cook ! 
His  magnificent  equipage,  however,  managed  to  bring 
us  to  the  capital  in  fourteen  hours,  so  that  we  arrived 
at  break  of  day. 

THE  MAALE  YEHUDIYA 

Hardly  allowing  me  time  for  a  preliminary  and  un- 
satisfactory wash,  a  Persian  nondescript  in  a  uniform, 
half  policeman,  half  soldier,  and  three-quarters  beggar, 
took  me  to  the  Maale  Yehudiya,  or  Jewish  quarter, 
where  he  left  me  in  charge  of  a  Jewish  lad.  The 
small  boy,  wide-eyed  with  curiosity,  escorted  me 
through  the  intricacies  of  the  quarter,  from  courtyard 
to  courtyard,  through  many  a  gate,  and  past  numbers 
of  timid  and  suspicious  Jewesses,  till  he  brought  me  to 
the  Synagogue  of  Ezra  Cohen  Zedek. 

There  are  only  about  four  thousand  Jews  in  Tehe- 


PERSIAN  JEWS  185 

ran,  but  there  are  fourteen  synagogues,  and  every  male 
Jew  is  a  regular  attendant  at  public  worship  in  the 
early  morning.  It  was  not  yet  seven  o'clock,  but  I 
found  the  congregants  on  the  point  of  removing  their 
Tallith  and  Tephillin.  However,  the  will  I  had  shown 
to  join  their  service  was  taken  for  the  deed,  and  I  was 
thus  better  accredited  than  if  I  had  had  a  thousand 


JEWISH    SCHOOL   AT  TEHERAN 


introductions.  They  took  me  round  to  the  Rabbi  and 
other  notables,  and  every  day  for  seven  days  we  spent 
much  time  in  the  quarter.  We  took  the  photograph 
one  day  when  we  were  visiting  the  Talmud  Torah 
School,  which  meets  in  the  open  air  on  a  platform 
running  parallel  with  the  right-hand  side  of  the  syna- 
gogue and  immediately  outside.  The  Melammed, 


i86  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

the  old  man  with  the  beard  leaning  against  the  pillar 
to  the  left,  was  seated  cross-legged  on  the  ground  with 
a  very  long  bamboo  cane  in  one  hand,  while  with  the 
other  he  occasionally  pulled  the  ropes  of  a  hammock 
cradle  slung  across  the  end  of  the  platform,  and  rocked 
its  plump  and  dusky  little  occupant  to  slumbers,  which 
the  cane  prevented  its  naughty  brothers  from  sharing. 
The  teacher,  despite  his  weapon  of  authority,  was 
all  sweetness  and  light  to  his  Feringhee  visitors,  and 
scrupled  not  to  allow  some  of  his  pupils  to  seat  them- 
selves on  the  synagogue  floor  in  the  attitude  of  prayer, 
and  himself  sat  himself  amongst  them,  and  boldly 
and  seriously  faced  the  camera.  We  hitched  up  the 
curtain  to  show  the  alcoves  in  which  the  Scrolls  are 
placed.  The  picture  also  gives  an  idea  of  the  narrow 
ladies'  gallery  on  the  left,  the  Oriental  rugs  on  the 
floor,  the  movable  wooden  reading  desk,  and  the  char- 
acteristic round  wooden  cases,  cloaked  in  Oriental 
embroideries,  in  which  stand  the  Siphre  Torah. 

THE  GREAT  SYNAGOGUE 

The  next  illustration  depicts  another  synagogue,  the 
Great,  which  has  at  least  some  architectural  pretensions. 
Beneath  the  floor  there  is  a  fascinating  Genizah,  damp 
and  funereal.  You  raise  a  flagstone  and  lower  yourself 
by  the  hands  till  your  feet  light  on  the  crumbling  and 
mouldy  remains  of  the  Hebrew  wastepaper  of  a  Per- 
sian century.  What  one  finds  there  is  neither  old  nor 
interesting,  but  then  one  shouldn't  expect  too  much 
from  even  "  a  cycle  of  Cathay."  The  pillars  are 
curiously  grooved,  the  three  figures  seated  on  the  step 
of  the  Almemar  are  typical  Persian  Jews,  and  the 


PERSIAN  JEWS 


187 


Hebrew  inscriptions  over  the  alcoves  are  interesting. 
They  represent  the  well-known  text: — 

Lift    up    your   heads,    O    ye    gates ;  and   be    lifted   up,    ye 
everlasting  doors  ! 


THE   GREAT  SYNAGOGUE   AT  TEHERAN 

Though  the  oldest  of  the  Teheran  synagogues,  the 
Great  cannot  boast  its  century.  The  whole  com- 
munity is  barely  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old.  The 
names  of  the  Jews  one  meets  reveal  their  origin  from 
the  ancient  communities  in  the  South.  Such  are 


i88  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Kashani,  Hamadani  Yazdi,  Isfahni,  Dardashti.  I  came 
across  only  one  Teherani,  David  Michael  Teherani, 
the  Banker,  and  he,  like  most  bankers,  was  probably  a 
novus  homo.  And  yet  Rhea,  the  ruins  of  which  are 
within  an  hour's  ride  from  the  capital,  is  the  ancient 
Rages,  one  of  the  chief  cities  of  Media,  and  the  home 
of  the  kinsman  of  Tobit,  that  exemplar  of  the  old 
man  of  antiquity,  the  good  father  of  a  good  son. 
Tobits  are  not  common  among  the  Jews  in  Persia 
nowadays,  but  they  are  still  to  be  found  even  in 
fin  de  siecle  Teheran.  Such  an  one,  Dr.  Rosen  of  the 
German  Legation  there  told  me  is  his  Hebrew  teacher, 
the  brother  of  Aga  Meir  Hamadani,  of  the  Caravan- 
serai Amir,  a  man  of  high  ideals,  and  utterly  un- 
worldly. Such  an  one,  too,  is  the  old  physician,  Nour 
Mahmoud  Hakim,  as  the  natives  affectionately  call 
him,  but  whom  his  brethren  know  as  Rabbi  Nahurai. 

MEDICAL  PRACTICE 

The  Hakim  is  a  keen,  bright-eyed  old  man,  with  a 
snow-white  beard.  He  looked  the  picture  of  Faust, 
or,  perhaps,  Maimonides  himself,  as  he  pored  over 
some  manuscript  or  other.  Though  an  octogenarian, 
and  a  medico  of  quite  the  old  school,  his  European  col- 
leagues of  the  most  advanced  type  respect  him  as 
infinitely  superior  to  the  ordinary  native  Hakim.  In 
fact  they  regard  him  as  a  mine  of  empirical  knowledge, 
and  even  the  Shah  summoned  him  to  his  bed- 
side. He  possesses  a  fine  little  library  of  Persian, 
Arabic,  and  Hebrew  manuscripts,  mostly  medical,  and 
asked  me  to  get  him  the  Koran  in  Hebrew.  His  gar- 
den is  a  delightful  storehouse  of  pomegranate,  rose, 
and  fig  trees,  and  vines  cluster  round  his  courtyards. 


PERSIAN  JEWS 


189 


The  natives  look  up  to  him  as  something  almost  super- 
natural in  his  wisdom,  and  his  sons  shine  by  his 
borrowed  light.  They  have  the  veneer  of  civilization 
upon  them,  for  they  spent  six  weeks  in  Paris, 
studying  medicine  as  they  told  me,  though  the  one  was 
in  bed  nearly  all  the  time,  and  his  brother  was  overawed 
by  the  asphalt  and  the  gas  around  him.  One  of  them 


SYNAGOGUE  OF  ASHER  ROFE  AT  TEHERAN 

allowed  me  to  sit  by  his  side  one  morning  as  he  inter- 
viewed his  patients.  The  sight  was  comical  enough. 
He  sat  on  the  floor  by  the  window  in  European  garb, 
but  with  the  high  black  Persian  conical  cap  on  his  head. 
In  front  of  him  was  a  sort  of  chessboard  with  oint- 
ments and  little  phials.  His  doorkeeper  brought  the 
patients  up  to  the  window,  and  then  ensued  a  whis- 
pered conversation  which  generally  ended  in  the 


190  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

patients'  receiving  a  minute  close.  To  my  uncultured 
eye  it  seemed  that  all  the  doses  came  from  the  same 
miraculous  cruse,  though  evidently  some  were  in- 
tended for  internal  application  and  others  for  external. 
Most  of  his  clientele  were  women,  Shiite  women,  not 
Jewesses.  They  rarely  unveiled,  but  it  was  funny 
to  see  a  lean  arm  or  a  tiny  tongue  projecting  from 
the  Yashmak,  and  blindly  seeking  inspection ! 

Hakims  are  great  men  in  Oriental  communities,  and 
it  is  not  surprising  to  find  synagogues  dedicated  to 
their  memory.  Such  an  one  is  that  of  Asher  Rofe, 
the  Dr.  Asher  of  Teheran,  of  which  I  was  able  to 
get  a  photograph.  The  illustration  may  serve  to 
give  one  an  idea  of  a  third  and  entirely  new 
(or  old?)  type  of  synagogue  architecture.  Note 
the  dark  recess  in  the  rear,  with  the  door  and  window. 
This  constitutes  a  sort  of  secret  chamber,  arcanum 
rather  than  Ark,  in  which  the  Scrolls  of  the  Law  are 
treasured.  The  high  brick  platform  of  the  Mimbar,  or 
reading  desk,  with  its  four  wooden  poles,  is  also  quaint 
if  not  beautiful.  The  man  to  the  left  is  a  poor  Dallal 
Moussa,  robed  in  blue  cotton,  who  used  to  bring  me  a 
Kosher  wild  pigeon,  stewed  in  saffron,  every  day; 
very  tough,  but  Kosher. 

SIAKAL 

In  an  appendix  to  the  1897  report  of  the  Anglo- 
Jewish  Association  (xxvi.,  47)  I  gave  a  short  state- 
ment of  the  educational  needs  of  the  Jews  in  Persia, 
how  the  Jews  themselves  begged  their  brethren  in 
Europe  to  establish  schools  for  them,  and  how  the  dig- 
nitaries of  the  State  and  the  British  and  foreign  diplo- 
matists of  Teheran  supported  their  petition.  Since 


PERSIAN  JEWS  191 

then,  it  is  gratifying  to  learn,  the  Alliance  Israelite, 
with  the  co-operation  of  our  own  Anglo-Jewish 
Association,  has  started  schools  there  for  boys  and 
girls  with  great  success  and  under  most  auspicious 
conditions. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  letter  about 
schools  written  and  handed  to  me,  one  Saturday  night, 
by  a  silk  trader  in  Reshd  as  a  message  to  my  brethren 
in  London.  The  original  is  not  without  interest 
for  its  Persian  style  and  spelling,  and  the  unconscious 
picture  it  presents  of  the  low  culture  but  high  ideals 
of  the  poor  Persian  Jew.  The  use  of  w  as  almost 
equivalent  to  ast  =  est  is  noteworthy. 

"  My  help  is  from  the  Lord,  the  Maker  of  heaven  and  earth. 
Every  year  in  London  they  send  money  to  Iran,  to  every  city 
they  send,  but  to  a  little  city,  Siakal  is  its  name,  it  is  in  the 
district  of  Reshd.  All  Israel  in  Siakal,  all  are  poor,  a  hundred 
households,  there  is  no  teacher  of  children,  there  are  no  schools, 
there  is  one  synagogue.  They  are  all  poor,  and  under  the  rule 
of  Ishmaelites,  who  are  very  cruel.  There  is  much  oppression 
(mSj).  In  London  they  do  not  know  of  the  village,  Siakal 
is  its  name,  in  the  province  of  Reshd.  There  are  Jews  there. 
For  God's  sake.  The  Jews  of  Siakal  are  all  poor." 

Already,  Mr.  Cazes  writes,  Jew-baiting  is  dead  in 
Teheran,  and  he  has  every  hope  of  starting  other 
schools  in  Hamadan  and  Isfahan,  and  perhaps  even  in 
Shiraz.  Our  school  at  Teheran  has  already  had  an 
excellent  effect  on  both  children  and  parents.  Nobody 
hears  anything  more  about  persecutions.  Big  people 
and  small  alike  show  sympathy  with  our  work,  and  it 
is  the  general  opinion  that  in  a  short  time  the  Israelites 
will  be  much  more  advanced  than  the  Mussulmans. 


192  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

THE  SADR  E  AAZEM 

H.  B.  M.  Minister,  Sir  Mortimer  Durand,  intro- 
duced me  to  the  Sadr  e  Aazem,  the  all-powerful  Chief 
Minister  of  the  Shah,  who  made  his  first  entry  into  his 
capital  during  our  stay  there.  We  discussed  at  some 
length  the  unsatisfactory  position  of  the  Jews.  The 
Sadr  e  Aazem  protested  that  the  new  Shah  was  even 
more  merciful  than  the  martyred  (i.  e.,  assassinated) 
Shah,  his  father,  and  that  he  himself  had  al- 
ways treated  the  Jews  well — so  well,  indeed,  that 
the  Moullahs  sometimes  found  fault  with  him,  and  he 
had  given  orders — and  would  repeat  them — that  the 
promises  of  religious  toleration  held  forth  by  Shah 
Nasr  ed  Din  when  he  visited  Europe  should  be  carried 
out  to  the  letter.  The  Jews,  he  said,  need  have  no 
fear  that  their  condition  would  deteriorate  under  the 
new  Shah,  who  was  as  merciful  as  he  was  just.  But 
their  position  would  be  much  improved  if  they  were 
better  educated. 

The  Firma  Firman,  or  Governor  of  Teheran,  whose 
status  as  both  brother-in-law  and  son-in-law  of  the 
Shah  makes  him  one  of  the  most  influential  men  in 
Persia  (and  who,  by  the  by,  manifested  considerable 
jealousy  of  the  Sadr  e  Aazem),  sent  for  me.  While  in- 
sisting upon  the  enlightened  principles  with  which  all 
Persians  now  regard  religious  nonconformity,  he 
taunted  the  rich  Jews  of  Europe  with  their  total 
neglect  of  their  brethren,  and  said  that  schools  on  a 
European  system  were  urgently  needed,  and  that  his 
Imperial  master  and  public  opinion,  too,  would  gladly 
welcome  and  even  second  any  efforts  in  this  direction. 
Since  I  left  Teheran,  the  Sadr  e  Aazem  has  fallen  from 


PERSIAN  JEWS  193 

power,  and  a  new  ministry  has  been  constituted,  of 
which  the  Firma  Firman  is  one  of  the  most  important 
members.  General  Sir  Thomas  Gordon,  who  is  a 
competent  authority  on  the  subject,  believed  that  the 
new  ministry  is  less  reactionary  than  the  last,  and  he 
urged  that  a  school  should  be  established  for  the  Jews 
without  further  delay. 

The  Jews  of  Teheran  themselves  were  no  less 
anxious  that  this  should  be  done,  and  gave  me  to  un- 
derstand that  they  would  contribute  at  least  six  hundred 
tomans  per  annum  if  such  a  school  could  be  estab- 
lished under  the  auspices  of  the  Anglo- Jewish  Asso- 
ciation or  the  Alliance  Israelite.  There  is  a  local 
fund  available  for  that  purpose,  which  produces  three 
hundred  tomans  per  annum — at  the  present  rate  of 
exchange  about  seventy-five  pounds.  The  Teheran 
Jewish  community  has  now  been  established  some 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  and  is  mainly  composed 
of  immigrants  from  Kashan,  Yazd,  Isfahan,  and 
Hamadan.  Although  it  numbers  barely  four  thousand 
souls,  there  are  fourteen  little  synagogues  in  the  Per- 
sian capital,  but  only  a  couple  of  Talmud  Torah 
schools,  where  nothing  is  taught  but  Hebrew,  and 
that  of  the  most  elementary  description.  In  the  words 
of  the  Rabbi,  "  Nothing  of  external  learning  is  taught, 
for  there  is  nobody  there  who  can  teach." 

•nSra  uS  J'KB?  *sh  •yyi  SSu  D-iniS  urx  D'jirnn  nsDno 

JEWISH  DISARILITIES 

The  Teheran  Jews  are  poor,  but  ignorant.  Their 
chief  complaint  of  persecution  is  in  respect  of  three 
points : — 


194  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

(a)  They  are  practically  restricted  to  the  ghetto, 

although  Jews  may  now  live  in  two  Fon- 
daks  in  the  bazaar  outside  the  Suk  el 
Yehudiyeh. 

(b)  When  a  Moslem  kills  a  Jew  he  need  pay  only 

thirty-three  tomans  blood-money.  This  is 
the  local  tariff  for  manslaughter  generally, 
but  as  Jews  do  not  kill  Moslems  they  com- 
plain that  this  Wchrgeld  should  not  be  so 
low. 

(c)  When  a  Jew  is  converted  to  Islam  he  succeeds 

to  all  the  property  of  his  Jewish  relatives, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  the  next-of-kin  who 
have  remained  Jews.  This  seems  to  de- 
pend on  custom,  not  law. 

Obviously  a  benevolent  Government  could  easily 
dispose  of  all  these  grievances,  but  it  is  precisely  the 
good-will  of  the  Government  which  should  be  cultivat- 
ed. At  present  the  Jews  of  Europe  are  themselves  in 
default,  because  they  have  taken  no  steps  in  an  educa- 
tional direction.  Teheran  Jews  are  in  a  better  position 
than  those  who  live  further  from  the  capital.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  diplomatists  of  the  Powers  is  not  suffi- 
ciently felt  to  keep  things  even  fairly  right  outside 
of  Teheran. 

NOTABLES 

The  following  is  a  list  of  some  of  the  more  promi- 
nent lay  members  of  the  Jewish  community  of  Tehe- 
ran:— 

Aga  Meir,  a  silk  merchant  and  a  British  subject. 

Moullah  Moukhtar  Cohen  Teherani,  jeweller. 

Moullah  Yekutiel  (Ismael)  Kashani. 


PERSIAN  JEWS  195 

Aga  David  Kashani,  merchant. 

Chacham  Nahurai  (Nour  Mahmoucl),  physician. 

David  Michael  Teherani,  banker. 

Aaron  Isfahani,  jeweller. 

Daoud  "  Hannah  "  Goli,  broker. 

Eliahu  Dardashti. 

Eli  Safon. 

Rofe  Eliahu  of  Chumsa. 

Aziz  Ulla,  jeweller. 

I  have  only  to  add  that  it  was  not  alone  in  Teheran 
that  our  co-religionists  and  others  pressed  upon  me  their 
real  need  and  longing  for  a  school.  At  Reshd  and 
Kazvin  the  same  request  was  made.  The  American 
Mission  School  is  the  only  institution  where  anything 
in  the  nature  of  modern  educational  advantages  can  be 
acquired  by  native  Jews,  and  for  obvious  reasons  it 
is  undesirable  that  they  should  be  taught  there. 


ZAKASPIE 

A  Bird's-eye  View  of  the  Transcaspian  —  Passports  —  Routes — 
Krasnovodsk  —  General  Kuropatkin  —  Diseases  —  The  Rail- 
way —  Fighting  the  Sand  —  Water  —  Passengers  —  The 
Persian  Frontier  —  Gcok  Tepe  —  Aschabad  —  The  Ruins  of 
Annau  —  Merv  —  The  Yadidin  —  River  Oxus  —  New  Bok- 
hara —  Bokhara  —  Jews  —  Synagogue  —  Ethnology  — 
Manuscripts  and  Literature  —  City  Sights  —  Samarkand  — 
Tamerlane  —  Russianization  —  Cotton. 

A  BIRD'S-EYE  VIEW  OF  THE  TRANSCASPIAN 

THE  tourist  at  Constantinople  is  told  that  the  modern 
Turk  has  become  very  enlightened,  that  he  is  no  longer 
particular  even  as  to  the  seclusion  of  his  women,  and 
that  he  has  seriously  agitated  for  the  abolition  of  the 
Yashmak.  But  the  Turkish  ladies  met  in  solemn 
conclave  and  resolved  on  the  retention  of  the  provok- 
ing veil  which  shades  all  but  their  lovely  eyes.  And 
why  ?  Because,  with  true  Oriental  subtilty,  they  argue 
that  it  is  precisely  the  mystery  of  the  Yashmak  which 
lends  them  charm,  and  the  Byronic  stranger  would 
cease  to  be  Byronic  if  he  discovered  that  an  Eastern 
beauty  stripped  of  such  accessories  could  not  compete 
with  her  fair  sisters  of  the  West.  The  jealous  zeal 
with  which  the  Russians  seek  to  hide  their  Transcas- 
pian possessions  from  the  Western  eye  seems- to  be 
founded  on  a  similarly  feminine  prejudice.  The  world 
is  agog  with  curiosity  about  the  glamours  of  Tamer- 
lane's historic  capital  and  the  famous  city  which  Marco 
Polo  found  so  moult  grand  ct  noble.  In  sober  truth, 
however,  Samarkand  and  Bokhara  are  two  interesting 


ZAKASPIE  197 

Oriental  cities,  and  the  road  there  a  waste  of  hideous 
sand  or  steppe  barely  a  degree  less  hideous.  Two  days 
and  a  half  it  takes  to  rail  over  on  General  Anenkoff's 
road,  and  all  the  time  the  English  Traveller  feels  a 
kind  of  malignant  joy  that  Russia  is  not  really  to  be 
envied  for  her  much-vaunted  empires  of  Transcaspia 
and  Turkestan. 

And  yet  there  is  a  good  deal  on  the  way  which 
strikes  one  as  beautiful  and  strange.  The  railway 
itself  is  a  stupendous  fact.  Happy  in  its  environ- 
ment, it  cannot  become  commonplace.  The  lands  it 
traverses  are"  still  comparatively  tcrrac  incognitae,  and 
the  impressions  de  voyage  of  a  latter-day  traveller,  to 
whom  Vambery  had  wished  God-speed,  and  who  went 
to  Turkestan  post-haste  and  hurried  back,  may  be  of  a 
little  interest.  The  special  inducement  which  prompted 
me  to  choose  the  Transcaspian  as  the  place  to  spend  a 
vacation  was  the  report  that  Hebrew  and  Hebneo- 
Persian  MSS.  were  still  to  be  unearthed  at  Bokhara. 
My  visit  the  year  before  to  Teheran  by  way  of  the  Cas- 
pian had  been  successful  and  had  whetted  my  appetite. 
The  Foreign  Office  authorities  were  good  enough  to 
obtain  for  me  the  necessary  permit.  H.  B.  M.  Ambas- 
sador at  Petersburg  applied  for  it  on  May  28,  1897, 
but  it  was  not  until  August  27  that  the  Russian  Consul 
in  London  received  instructions  by  telegram  to  viscr 
my  passport.  Apparently  the  sanction  was  somewhat 
grudgingly  bestowed,  but  then  this  was  because  I  am 
not  only  an  Englishman,  but  also  a  Jew.  However, 
the  visa  once  inscribed  on  my  passport,  \  had  no 
further  trouble.  Indeed,  after  I  had  once  passed  the 
frontier  at  Wirballcn,  it  was  not  demanded 
until  I  reached  Samarkand.  But  T  was  ex- 


198  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

pected  all  along  the  Transcaspian  line.  At  Krasno- 
vodsk,  on  the  Caspian  Sea,  I  was  shown  a  dossier  in 
which  I  could  decipher  my  own  name,  but,  alas,  noth- 
ing more.  At  Bokhara,  the  Russian  political  agent 
said  he  had  been  duly  advised,  and  so  he  very  kindly 
provided  me  with  an  official  Djiguit  to  show  me 
the  sights.  At  Samarkand  also  I  was  en  regie,  and 
at  Aschabad  the  stationmaster  was  good  enough  to 
give  me  a  coupe  for  myself!  Two  Italians  who  were 
with  me  for  part  of  the  time,  and  an  Englishman  whom 
I  met  had  been  informed  at  Petersburg  that  they,  too, 
were  duly  authorized  to  travel  on  the  Transcaspian, 
but  the  authorization  does  not  seem  to  have  been  com- 
municated to  the  officials  in  Central  Asia.  Still  they 
were  not  molested  nor  interfered  with  in  any  way. 
The  officials  at  Krasnovodsk  let  them  pass  with  an 
intimation  that  they  would  be  liable  to  be  turned  back 
at  any  point  en  route.  As  a  matter  of  fact  nothing 
happened,  and  I  fancy  that  the  experience  of  Mr.  Bud- 
gett  Meakin,  who  got  to  Samarkand  with  his  sister, 
and  without  a  permit — and,  after  he  got  there  and  had 
seen  all  he  wanted,  was  told  to  go  home — was  only  un- 
usual in  the  sense  that  the  last  formality  is  generally 
omitted. 

PASSPORTS 

Passport  arrangements  and  Custom  House  formali- 
ties in  general  were  easier  this  year  than  I  have  ever 
known  them  before.  On  my  first  visit  to  Russia  some 
friends  named  Blomfield — a  name  surely  familiar  to 
the  Russian  diplomatist — were  persecuted  by  the  atten- 
tions of  the  police,  who  followed  them  about  wherever 
they  went,  in  the  altogether  erroneous  belief  that  they 


ZAKASPIE  199 

were  Jews  and  therefore  suspects.  A  second  time — it 
was  during  the  great  cholera  epidemic  of  1892 — I  had 
to  avoid  Lublin,  because  it  had  been  notified  in  the 
Official  Gazette  that  while  all  non-Jewish  travellers 
would  have  to  be  disinfected  and  sent  on  at  once,  Jewish 
travellers  would  be  detained  in  quarantine  for  a  week ! 
In  1896,  when  I  passed  through  Moscow,  the 
"  Slaviansky  Bazaar  "  people  could  not  get  back  my 
passport  from  the  police  authorities  because  these  had 
not  yet  been  been  able  to  obtain  the  personal  signature 
of  the  Governor-General,  which  was  requisite  in  the 
case  of  a  Jew.  I  had  to  go  to  the  police  office  myself 
and  explain  that  as  I  was  a  Jew  and  holy  Moscow 
out  of  the  Pale  of  Jewish  Settlement,  they  ought  to  be 
only  too  glad  to  get  rid  of  me  that  same  evening.  The 
joke,  or  perhaps  a  threat  of  complaint  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, brought  me  the  passport  within  the  hour.  In 
1897,  however,  I  am  thankful  to  say  that  I  observed 
no  signs  of  Jew-baiting.  And  generally  there  seemed 
a  more  liberal  spirit  abroad.  There  was  no  bother 
about  books  or  newspapers.  At  Paris  I  had  been 
warned  that  it  was  quite  hopeless  to  attempt  to  bring 
any  books  into  Russia  without  special  authorization. 
Well,  I  had  Curzon's  "  Russia  in  Central  Asia,"  Dob- 
son's  "  Russia's  Railway  Advance,"  "  P>onvallot,"  and 
similar  books.  Curzon  I  placed  at  the  very  top  of  my 
kit-bag,  but  it  was  passed  with  an  indifference  so  out- 
spoken a  work  hardly  deserved.  Its  maps  and  political 
criticisms  alike  failed  to  offend. 

ROUTES 

The  quickest,   cheapest,   and   nastiest   route   to   the 
terminus  of  the  Transcaspian  Railway  is  via   Berlin, 


200  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Warsaw,  Moscow,  and  Rostow  to  Petrovsk,  and  thence 
by  steamer  direct  to  Krasnovodsk.  I  was  unfortunate 
in  that  I  had  to  increase  the  length  of  that  journey  by 
passing  Petersburg,  and,  on  the  sea  voyage,  calling  at 
Baku.  The  distance  from  the  Russian  frontier  to  Pe- 
trovsk is  3585  versts,  and  takes  five  days  and  a  half, 
but  costs  only  forty-eight  roubles  first-class  and  twenty- 
nine  second.  The  nicest  way  to  Krasnovodsk  is  via 
Constantinople  and  Batoum,  thence  by  Transcaucasian 
railway  to  Tiflis,  then  by  Troika  over  the  famous  Geor- 
gian military  road  across  the  Caucasus  to  Vladikawkas, 
and  thence  to  Petrovsk.  The  return  journey  may- 
be varied  by  taking  the  steamer  from  Batoum,  Poti,  or 
Novorrosisk,  by  Kertch,  Eupatoria,  Yalta,  and  Sevas- 
topol to  Odessa,  and  home  by  Lemberg,  Cracow,  and 
Vienna.  The  steamer  fare  from  Petrovsk  to  Krasno- 
vodsk is  twenty-one  roubles,  and  the  crossing  generally 
takes  thirty  hours.  Second-class  fare  from  Krasno- 
vodsk to  Samarkand,  a  distance  of  1454  versts,  is  only 
about  twenty  roubles.  There  is  no  first  class  yet  on 
the  Transcaspian  line,  and  altogether  its  rolling  stock 
is  still  lamentably  deficient,  but  they  are  now  building 
carriages  at  Aschabad,  and  by  next  May,  when  the  ex- 
tensions to  Tashkend  and  Khokan  are  expected  to  be 
open  to  traffic,  things  will  probably  improve.  Even 
now  one  must  be  specially  unlucky  not  to  find  through- 
out all  the  Russias,  and  even  in  a  second-class  carriage, 
a  folding  bed  for  each  passenger,  and  one  lavatory 
and  one  closet  in  each  carriage.  And  the  carriages 
are  swept  and  cleaned  at  intervals  throughout  the  day, 
so  that  they  are  always  fairly  comfortable. 


ZAKASPIE  201 

KRASNOVODSK 

As  the  steamer  approaches  Krasnovodsk,  what  first 
catches  the  eye  is  the  smart  little  railway  station  built 
of  gleaming  white  granite  against  a  background  of 
bare  purple  mountains — a  fitting  temple  to  dedicate  to 
the  cult  of  the  iron  horse.  Hardly  less  attractive  are 
the  other  stations  on  the  line,  though  the  background 
fails  as  soon  as  the  range  of  hills  which  here  forms 
the  Russo-Persian  frontier  is  left  behind.  The  next 
thing  to  notice  is  the  block  of  outward  as  well  as  in- 
ward goods  traffic,  especially  cotton,  and  this,  too,  is 
to  be  seen  all  along  the  line.  The  breakdown  of  the 
Amu  Daria  Bridge,  which  during  two  months  necessi- 
tated trans-shipment  into  steamers,  must  have  contri- 
buted to  the  block,  but  we  were  told  by  a  high  official 
in  the  Rail  way- Civil  Service  that  the  fault  was  entirely 
due  to  the  military  mismanagement  of  the  line.  Mili- 
tary men  were  good  generals,  but  bad  business  men, 
and  had  no  idea  of  statistics  or  engineering.  The 
plans  they  submitted  for  a  new  stone  bridge  were  im- 
possible, dimensions  and  quantities  alike  ludicrous,  and 
so  for  three  years  the  new  stone  bridge  has  been  talked 
about  but  not  begun.  They  could  not  cope  with  the 
traffic,  did  not  provide  the  necessary  facilities  for 
trade  and  v/ere  utterly  deficient  in  initiative. 

GENERAL  KUROPATKIN 

General  Kuropatkin  is  at  one  and  the  same  time 
Governor-General  oflhe  Transcaspian  Province  and 
dictator  of  the  railway.  He  was  Skobeleff's  right-hand 
man,  and  even  the  enemies  of  both  admit  that  he  pos- 
sesses more  backbone  than  that  favorite  hero.  T>y 
most  Russians  he  is  regarded  as  the  chief  military 


202  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

genius  of  the  day  and  the  hope  of  the  Empire.1  By  a 
few  he  is  looked  upon  as  being  somewhat  of  a  poseur, 
fond  of  display  and  inclined  to  be  a  theorist.  I  can 
bear  witness  to  the  splendor  of  his  special  train  and  to 
the  weird  and  almost  awe-inspiring  effect  of  his  entry 
into  Samarkand — his  landau  preceded  by  four  Dji- 
guits,  native  police  outriders,  galloping  ahead  with 
blazing  flambeaux  waved  high  above  their  heads — a 
sort  of  living  picture  out  of  "  The  Talisman,"  or  per- 
haps part  of  a  Lord  Mayor's  Show  in  a  fog.  For 
the  rest  he  is  said  to  be  good-natured  with 
plenty  of  bonhomie.  Though  he  is  a  great  stick- 
ler for  Panslavism,  and  professes  a  rigid  in- 
tention to  admit  only  Russians  pur  sang  into  his  Em- 
peror's new  territories,  the  climate  has  been  too  much 
for  him  and  his  fellow-countrymen.  All  sorts  of  in- 
ducements are  offered  to  Russians  to  settle,  but  with 
comparatively  little  success.  Armenians  and  Jews, 
though  native-born  Russian  subjects,  are  regarded  as 
aliens  and  not  encouraged.  But  they  are  acclimatized, 
and  so  at  the  present  time  much  of  the  trade  of  Samar- 
kand and  Bokhara  is  in  their  hands.  Russian  civil 
servants  fight  shy  of  the  three  years'  service  for  which 
they  have  now  to  covenant,  and,  notwithstanding  their 
high  pay  and  other  privileges,  return,  or  rather  escape, 
to  cold  Russia  as  opportunity  offers.  Nor  is  this  sur- 
prising when  one  thinks  that  101°  F.  is  a  common  tem- 
perature during  half  the  year  and  160°  F.  in  the  shade 
not  unknown,  that  it  is  impossible  to  dwell  except  in 
cities,  that  these  are  twelve  hours  distant  by  rail  one 

1  He  is  now  commander-in-chief  of  the  Russian  armies  fight- 
ing against  Japan. 


ZAKASPIE  203 

from  the  other,  with  a  howling  wilderness  between, 
and  that  each  of  them  is  notorious  for  a  special  com- 
plaint, to  which  the  new-comer  is  more  liable  than  the 
native. 

DISEASES 

The  endemic  disease  at  Khokan  is  Zob,  or  goitre ;  at 
Samarkand,  Prokaza,  or  lupus ;  at  Bokhara,  Rishta,  or 
inguinal  worm ;  at  Merv,  typhoidal  malaria ;  and  at 
Aschabad,  Pendinka,  or  eczema.  Influenza,  we  were 
told,  had  been  deadly  throughout  Turkestan,  and  it 
is  the  disease  of  which  natives  and  visitors  alike  are 
now  most  afraid.  Lepers,  not  all  loathsome  in  ap- 
pearance, but  all  doomed  to  living  death,  are  to  be 
seen  outside  all  the  great  towns,  squatting  along  the 
roadside,  on  the  way,  significantly  enough,  to  the  burial 
grounds  and  tombs  of  the  saints,  so  as  to  beg  from  the 
pious  and  gain  the  pittance  on  which  they  live. 

Throughout  Central  Asia  fever  is  prevalent.  In  the 
army,  indeed,  every  ache,  from  toothache  to  rheuma- 
tism, is  ascribed  to  fever  and  dosed  with  quinine. 
Even  in  Old  Bokhara  the  cult  of  that  magic  drug  is 
so  far  advanced  that  the  local  chemist  supplies  it  in  con- 
venient little  gelatine  cylinders,  which  have  been  so 
recently  invented  as  not  yet  to  be  known  in  the  London 
market.  And,  by  the  by,  it  is  a  significant  fact  that 
in  every  Russian  town  it  is  the  apothecary's  Apteka 
which  is  the  finest  and  largest  shop,  and  apparently 
does  the  biggest  trade. 

THE  RAILWAY 

Krasnovodsk,  as  the  terminus  of  the  Transcaspian 
line,  is  only  three  years  old.  It  has  recently  replaced 


204 


Uzun  Ada,  which  was  about  a  hundred  versts  nearer 
Samarkand,  but  which  labored  under  the  disadvan- 
tage of  being  a  bad  harbor  with  little  water  and 
inaccessible  during  some  of  the  prevailing  winds. 

The  junction  of  the  old  line  and  the  new  one  is  at 
Dschebel  station.  The  new  line  hugs  the  sea-coast  for 
a  few  miles,  and  then  gradually  recedes  and  runs 
parallel  to  the  escarpment  of  the  last  outspur  of  the 
mountains,  which  constitute  the  Russo-Persian  fron- 
tier. The  line  itself  is  pretty  nearly  level,  gradients 
are  excessively  light,  and  tunnels  there  are  none  all 
the  way.  There  are  numerous  bridges,  but  to  a  lay- 
man only  three  seemed  important — those  over  the 
Murghab,  the  Oxus,  and  over  the  Zarafshan  near 
Samarkand.  The  Persian  mountains  continue  right 
along  to  the  Amu  Daria,  and  are  a  welcome  relief  to 
the  monotonous  level  on  the  other  side  of  the  line. 
There  is  plenty  of  water  at  Krasnovodsk,  and  the  Rus- 
sians are  so  pleased  with  the  place  that  they  propose 
to  make  another  great  railway  from  there  to  Khiva, 
a  distance  of  about  three  hundred  miles.  But  the  heat 
and  dust  are  simply  awful,  and  give  a  fitting  foretaste 
of  what  one  has  to  expect  in  Central  Asia.  The  one 
compensation  is  that  a  refreshing  sea  bath  can  be  taken 
there  for  five  kopecks.  Armenians  use  the  sea  for 
washing  purposes,  and  we  were  somewhat  perplexed 
when  we  saw  one  jump  into  the  water,  break  two 
eggs  on  his  head,  and  wash  his  hair  with  the  yolks. 

Between  Krasnovodsk  and  Aschabad  the  stations  are 
hardly  more  than  halting  places  to  enable  meeting 
trains  to  pass  each  other,  the  Transcaspian  Railway 
being  of  course  a  single  track  throughout.  The  buffets 
are  rarely  provided  with  more  than  two  or  three  eggs 


ZAKASPIE  205 

and  onions,  and  the  indispensable  Vodka.  There  were 
a  couple  of  botanists  in  the  train  on  our  return  journey, 
and  they  lost  no  opportunity  of  getting  out  and  col- 
lecting specimens  in  the  steppe  and  dunes,  rinding 
different  species  of  the  same  plants  at  each  successive 
station. 

FIGHTING  THE  SAND 

But  even  the  unscientific  traveller,  innocent  of  bot- 
any, cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  effective  process 
adopted  for  checking  the  encroachment  on  the  line  of 
sand  avalanches  by  means  of  saxaoul  plantations,  which 
for  hundreds  of  versts  run  parallel  with  the  iron  track. 
Sand  is  the  snow  of  the  steppe,  and  a  more  insidious 
enemy  to  the  civil  engineer.  The  desert  is  nowhere 
perfectly  flat ;  it  is  undulated  by  waves,  the  crest  of 
which  is  often  twenty  feet  higher  than  the  base,  and 
as  the  prevailing  wind  seems  to  be  N.  E.,  the  S.  W. 
side  of  the  wave  falls  away  precipitously,  and  while 
the  surface  of  the  summit  is  comparatively  firm  for 
walking,  it  is  dangerous  to  walk  too  near  the  edge. 
One  fact,  however,  struck  us  very  much.  General 
Anenkoff  and  the  projectors  of  the  line  took  precau- 
tions, far-sighted  and  reasonably  calculated  to  be  effec- 
tive, but  his  successors,  the  men  now  in  charge,  do  not 
trouble  about  giving  his  measures  a  fair  chance.  At 
station  after  station,  wherever  we  found  herbage  and 
plants,  there  we  found  also  spoor  of  camel  and  buffalo 
and  goat.  No  care  is  taken  to  preserve  the  shrubs  so 
anxiously  reared ;  in  many  places  the  surface  has  been 
nibbled  bare.  And  yet  it  would  be  quite  easy  to  fence 
off  a  few  feet  cither  side  of  the  line,  and  leave  the 
herds  and  flocks  of  the  Tekkes  to  be  content  with  a 


206  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

scantier  area  of  pasturage.     Before  the  advent  of  the 
Russians,  they  had  nothing  at  all  in  many  places. 

Another  consideration  that  occurred  to  us  was  as  to 
the  possibility  of  replacing  the  saxaouls  in  process  of 
time  by  fir-trees  and  thus  re-afforesting  the  country. 
This  has  been  found  practicable  in  many  of  the  waste 
places  and  sand-dunes  of  Europe,  and  it  ought  not  to 
be  difficult  in  Asia.  We  were  told  that  an  experiment 
of  the  kind  had  not  proved  quite  successful  on  the 
banks  of  the  Volga,  but  there  is  evidently  nobody  in 
office  whose  business  it  is  to  look  after  forestry  in 
Turkestan,  and  the  consequence  is  that  even  in  Samar- 
kand, the  City  of  Trees,  where  in  one  stately  boulevard 
there  is  an  avenue  composed  of  twelve  lines  of  giant 
trees,  wood  is  terribly  expensive,  and  has  to  be  im- 
ported from  the  interior  of  Russia. 

WATER 

To  persons  not  scientific  the  stations  were  interesting 
for  the  glimpses  they  gave  of  the  tall  but  deliberate 
Turcoman  on  his  native  steppe,  trading  for  a  huge 
Arbuza  water-melon,  or  the  more  luscious  D'ynja. 
This  is  the  melon  properly  so-called,  but  the 
Russian  avoids  it  as  fever-giving,  perhaps  because 
it  requires  water  to  feed  it,  and  for  drinking  purposes 
all  water  in  Central  Asia  is  dangerous  as  well  as  rare. 

The  railway  trains  must  carry  their  own  water; 
a  huge  cask  is  attached  to  each  engine  by  way  of 
tender.  The  kitchen-car  next  the  "  buffet "  is  roofed 
by  a  cistern  of  water,  the  supply  of  which  is  constantly 
renewed  at  the  stations  by  filtered  drinking-water, 
hauled  up  by  the  attendants  pail  by  pail.  At  each  sta- 
tion also  there  is  a  cask  of  such  water,  to  which  the 


ZAKASPIE  207 

native  passengers  rush  as  soon  as  the  train  arrives,  and 
from  which  the  Russian  ladies,  who  make  their  own 
"  chi  "  on  board,  fill  their  teapots. 

PASSENGERS 

On  the  up- journey  we  found  the  train  inconveniently 
crowded.  All  the  second-class  tickets  available  were 
soon  sold  out,  and  many  a  respectable  merchant  of 
Turkestan,  in  flowing  robes  and  picturesque  turban, 
had  to  content  himself  with  the  bare  boards  of  third- 
class.  But  third-class  carriages,  although  the  fare  is 
uniform,  are  subdivided  into  three  varieties.  First 
come  the  luggage-trucks  for  native  sarts,  laborers,  and 
shepherds,  into  and  out  of  which  they  scramble  as  best 
they  can,  and  where  of  their  own  modest  bundles  they 
make  seats  or  beds. 

Of  the  remaining  third-class  passengers,  the  Per- 
sians, Jews,  and  Armenians,  and  the  Sunnite  mer- 
chants mostly  keep  together,  and  the  third  variety  con- 
sists of  the  inferior  Russian  employees  and  soldiers 
and  servants.  Russians  excepted,  the  train  was  mono- 
polized by  traders  homeward  bound  from  the  great 
annual  fair  at  Nijni  Novgorod.  Many  of  these  were 
pious  traders  and  had  extended  their  commercial  travel 
into  a  religious  pilgrimage  further  west — the  Moham- 
medans to  Mecca  and  the  Jews  to  Jerusalem.  The 
Jews  were  full  of  the  Zionist  Congress  at  Basle,  and  in 
all  innocence  asked  me  whether  the  Messiah  was  at 
hand,  and  Queen  Victoria  had  given  Palestine  to  the 
Jews ! 

So  many  of  those  returning  traders  and  pilgrims 
were  there  that  the  only  three  tourists  in  the  train  were 
crowded  out  of  second-class  into  third,  and  glad 


208  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

enough  to  find  in  a  third-class  carriage  room  to  lie 
down  for  the  night.  Even  the  table  in  the  "  buffet- 
wagon  "  was  used  as  a  bed  by  one  or  two  weary 
travellers.  If  such  were  an  ordinary  instance  of  pas- 
senger traffic  on  the  line,  it  would  be  easy  to  credit  the 
Russian  boast  that  the  Transcaspian  Railway  pays  the 
Government  nearly  three  per  cent,  on  the  original 
outlay. 

During  my  short  visit,  however,  I  used  the  train  five 
times,  and  only  once  was  it  so  inconveniently  crowded. 
Now,  there  are  only  three  passenger  trains  a  week  each 
way,  and  so  one  cannot  help  thinking  that  there  must 
be  something  wrong  with  the  statistics.  But  Russia 
is  rich  enough  to  abstain  from  counting  the  cost  where 
reasons  military  or  political  call  for  action.  And  so 
there  is  little  doubt  that  the  projected  line  from  Khiva 
to  Krasnovodsk  and  the  stupendous  Mongolian  line 
will  be  constructed  very  soon,  although  the  one  may 
not,  and  the  other  cannot,  ever  pay  expenses. 

The  average  distance  between  stations  is  rather 
less  than  fifteen  miles,  and  the  time  it  takes  to  traverse 
it  about  one  hour.  A  time-table  of  the  trains  which  go 
to  and  from  Samarkand  three  times  a  week  would 
serve  to  show  that  many  of  the  stations  are  only  halting 
places  named  after  the  engineers  of  the  line  or  other 
men  whom  the  Russian  Chauvinist  delighteth  to 
honor. 

THE  PERSIAN  FRONTIER 

The  Persian  mountains  near  Ushak  present  the  char- 
acteristic appearance  of  a  great  wall  rising  suddenly 
and  sharply  from  the  dead  flat.  They  are  most  pre- 
cipitous and  treeless,  with  dry  torrent  beds  to  indi- 


ZAKASPIE  209 

cate  where  the  rainfall  goes  in  the  rainy  season. 
Though  it  was  a  hundred  degrees  in  the  shade,  we 
noticed  "  Oblaka,"  feathery  clouds,  radiating  from  the 
mountains  and  indicating  wintry  weather  in  the  Per- 
sian highlands.  One  cannot  help  thinking  that,  from 
the  military  point  of  view,  the  line  would  be  all  the 
safer  if  it  were  not  so  near  a  mountain  frontier;  but 
then  the  Russians  have  nowhere  shown  that  they  are 
very  frightened  of  their  Persian  neighbors,  and  we 
English  are  not  thought  likely  ever  to  advance  so  far 
north  in  Persia  as  to  be  of  much  use  to  its  rulers  in 
frontier  fighting. 

At  Bami,  about  sixteen  hours'  distance  from  Krasno- 
vodsk,  one  first  begins  to  come  across  the  native  Turco- 
man at  home.  Tekke  Turcomans  mostly  appeal  to  one 
for  their  size.  They  are  all  tall,  and  their  huge  woolly 
caps  add  to  their  height.  Like  most  giants,  they  seem 
good-humored  enough,  and  it  was  funny  to  see  the 
little  Russian  soldiers  ordering  them  about  without 
fear  or  compunction.  Their  wives  and  daughters 
are  brightly  dressed,  comely,  and  unveiled,  and  be- 
decked with  quaint  silver  trinkets. 

GEOK  TEPE 

About  a  hundred  versts  further  east  we  come  to 
Geok  Tepe,  famous  in  the  military  annals  of  the  cen- 
tury. It  was  the  last  obstacle  to  the  Russian  conquest 
of  Turkestan,  and  the  name  of  Skobeleff  the  Destroyer 
will  ever  be  associated  with  its  capture.  In  our  train 
travelled  one  of  Skobeleff's  most  trusted  henchmen,  the 
Captain  Sijmen,  who  was  in  command  of  the  naval  bri- 
gade which  so  materially  helped  the  Russian  advance. 
I  ike  all  Finlandcrs,  the  gallant  captain  spoke  English, 


210  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

and  waxed  enthusiastic  over  the  prowess  of  Skobeleff 
and  Kuropatkin.  He  went  over  the  battle  for  our 
benefit,  correcting  Curzon's  account  here  and  there,  but 
expressing  amazement  at  his  general  accuracy.  With 
us  he  climbed  the  breach  once  more,  but,  though  he 
got  up  all  right,  the  dcscensus  Averni  was  not  so 
easy.  He  slipped  and  fell,  and  but  for  the  friendly 
assistance  of  a  couple  of  jolly  "  Selniks,"  the  train 
might  have  left  him  on  the  very  field  where  six  years 
ago  a  Turcoman  bullet  had  laid  him  low  and  deprived 
him  of  the  kudos  of  leading  the  final  charge.  Trees 
are  now  planted  round  the  station  which  bears  the 
famous  name  of  Geok  Tepe,  and  blood-red  oleander 
blooms,  fitting  type  of  the  massacre  with  which  the 
battle  ended.  But  within  the  walls  of  circumvallation 
are  ruins  only  and  dank  grass,  and  the  modern  Turco- 
man leads  his  camels  gingerly  over  the  broken  but  still 
steep  ruined  walls,  and  takes  them  to  pasture  where 
but  yesterday  the  last  heroes  of  his  race  fought  and 
died. 

ASCHABAD 

Aschabad,  on  the  edge  of  the  Kara-Kum,  or  "  black 
sand  "  of  the  oasis,  is  the  first  town  of  importance 
on  the  line.  It  is  twenty-two  hours  from  the  sea  by 
railway,  and  a  favorite  starting-point  for  caravans  to 
.Meshed  in  Persia  on  the  south  and  to  Khiva  on  the 
west.  The  present  town,  with  its  long  and  shady 
avenues  of  trees,  its  large  and  ugly  public  buildings, 
and  dreary  market  squares,  is  modern  and  Russian  to 
the  core.  The  Tekke  men  take  care  to  enter  it  as  rarely 
as  may  be,  and  their  women  seem  to  keep  out  of  it 
altogether.  There  are  plenty  of  Persians  to  be  seen, 


ZAKASPIE  211 

but  always  sans  famillc.  What  are  called  its  bazaars 
are  but  wide  streets  with  two  or  three  insignificant 
shops,  but  they  say  that  Tekke  carpets  can  be  bought 
there  better  than  anywhere  else.  The  only  object  of 
interest  is  the  new  Greek  Church  with  its  three  cupolas 
of  sparkling  gold,  and  in  front  a  monument  in  memory 
of  Skobeleff,  with  a  business-like  but  ornamental  can- 
non at  each  corner,  ready,  it  would  seem,  as  that  hot- 
headed hero  always  was,  to  get  into  action  at  the  first 
call.  Here  I  spent  the  Day  of  Atonement,  and,  among 
our  small  congregation,  were  one  or  two  Yadidin,  of 
whom  more  anon. 

Aschabad  itself  may  be  uninteresting,  but  there  are 
ruins  within  ten  miles  which  are  quite  worth  going  to 
see.  A  fairly  good  carriage  track  runs  parallel  to  the 
railway  line  past  some  prosperous  looking  native  vil- 
lages to  Annau.  But  at  one  spot  the  softness  of  the 
sand  makes  it  almost  impossible  for  horses  to  drag  a 
carriage  through.  It  is  a  sign  of  the  end  of  the  oasis. 

THE  RUINS  OF  ANNAU 

A  little  further  on  appear  the  ruins  of  a  whole  town 
dominated  by  a  majestic  mosque.  Local  tradition  as- 
signs its  destruction  to  Tamerlane  the  Destroyer.  And 
evidently  it  is  only  since  his  day  that  the  desert  has  en- 
croached on  the  oasis  and  swallowed  up  the  ancient 
site.  Russian  progress  may  once  again  carry  the  war 
into  the  enemy's  camp  and  reclaim  the  site,  and  already 
there  are  signs  of  Annau  becoming  again  inhabited. 

The  ruins  of  Annau  are  themselves  highly  interest- 
ing. We  have  the  houses  of  the  Tckke  natives — each 
a  sort  of  Martello  Tower — easily  defended  against  any 
number  of  freebooters  that  might  swoop  down  upon  it 


212  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

from  the  adjacent  mountains.  In  Turkestan,  at  least, 
every  man's  house  used  to  be  his  castle,  and  though  its 
windows  are  few,  its  door  inaccessible,  and  its  comforts 
modest,  there  is  something  imposing  even  in  its  re- 
pellent exterior.  But  the  town  is  dominated  and  over- 
shadowed by  the  really  magnificent  mosque  which 
stands  upon  a  sort  of  acropolis.  The  mosaics  and 
painted  tiles  are  still  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation. 
They  are  in  all  colors  and  really  lustrous ;  those  in 
Samarkand  are  quite  dull  in  comparison.  What  most 
interested  us  about  the  mosque,  however,  was  a  large 
quantity  of  horns  and  skulls  of  ovis  poll,  or  mufflon, 
heaped  up  in  a  corner  of  an  inner  chamber  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, the  relics  of  sacrifices  of  half  a  millennium 
ago,  and  a  long,  and  really  formidable  looking  serpent 
which  we  startled  as  it  lay  basking  on  the  top  of  some 
debris.  Luckily  the  reptile  was  not  less  frightened 
than  we  were,  and  vanished  before  we  could  do  battle 
with  it.  It  was  the  only  wild  animal  I  encountered 
during  my  visit  to  Central  Asia.  I  heard  a  few  jackals 
barking  at  night,  and  was  told  that  tigers  occasionally 
swam  across  the  Oxus,  a  mile  or  two  above  the  bridge, 
but  I  really  saw  nothing  else  which  was  wild  except  a 
countless  number  of  lively  little  lizards  scintillating  in 
the  sand,  and  one  exhausted  eagle  which  was  caught 
on  the  deck  of  the  good  ship  "  Bariatinsky,"  half-way 
across  the  Caspian.  About  fifty  versts  beyond  Annau, 
we  came  to  more  ruins  at  Bada  Dur.  These 
now  rise  up  out  of  the  sand,  but.  obviously  in  times 
past  they  must  have  been  outside  the  desert,  and  per- 
haps not  even  on  its  verge — another  proof  of  the  en- 
croachment of  the  sand. 

Fifty  versts  further  we  came  to  Dushak,  interesting 


ZAKASPIE  213 

for  its  black-fezzed  Persians  waiting  at  the  station. 
This  is  the  point  on  the  line  nearest  to  the  Persian 
frontier,  which  is  here  only  seven  versts  distant. 

MERV 

Merv,  the  Queen  of  Asia,  as  it  once  was  called,  is 
six  hours'  distance  by  rail.  It  is  another  instance  of 
how  the  mighty  are  fallen,  instances  of  which  are  so 
frequent  in  Central  Asia.  There  are  dust  heaps  a  mile 
or  two  from  the  dull  and  dreary  town,  and  they  are  evi- 
dence of  ruins  of  some  extent.  But  the  importance  of 
Merv  must  always  have  lain  in  its  geographical  posi- 
tion rather  than  its  actual  wealth  and  population.  And 
yet  Merv  is  mentioned  in  the  Zend  Avesta,  and  Alex- 
ander the  Great  helped  to  build  it.  A  Nestorian  Arch- 
bishop was  enthroned  there  sixteen  centuries  ago, 
and  there,  in  the  eighth  century,  the  veiled  prophet  of 
Khorasan  started  a  new  religion.  Parthians,  Arabs, 
Mongols,  Persians,  Bokhariots,  Turcomans,  and  Rus- 
sians have  all  held  it  in  turn. 

Its  river  is  the  Murghab,  which  boasts  of  one  of 
the  few  really  important  railway  bridges  of  the  Trans- 
caspian.  Situate  not  much  higher  up  on  this  same 
river  is  Penjdeh,  which  in  March,  1885,  was  on  the 
point  of  causing  an  Anglo-Russian  war.  I  met  an  officer 
who  had  been  on  General  KomarofFs  staff  at  the  time, 
and  he  told  me  some  mysterious  story  as  to  how  Cap- 
tain Yate  had  suddenly  departed  without  his  luggage. 
My  information  was  too  scanty  to  enable  me  to  appre- 
ciate it  as  I  should  have  done,  but  it  was  obvious  that 
what  the  British  public  has  heard  about  the  incident 
is  by  no  means  all  there  is  to  learn  on  the  subject. 

Merv  commanded  the  great  roads  from   Khiva  to 


214  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Herat,  and  Bokhara  to  Meshed,  and  is  thus  at  the  cross- 
ways  of  the  caravan  routes  to  Persia,  Afghanistan  and 
India,  China  and  Turkestan.  And  it  was  only  in  1883 
that  its  capture  by  the  Russians  was  deplored  by  us  as 
the  loss  of  a  mighty  bulwark  to  India's  defence.  I 
am  no  politician  or  military  tactician,  nor  in  any  way 
competent  to  express  an  opinion,  but  although  there 
are  numbers  of  Russian  soldiers  to  be  seen  there,  it 
certainly  does  not  look  important  to-day. 

THE  YADIDIN 

I  was  interested  in  Merv  because  I  found  it  the  home 
of  a  couple  of  thousand  Marranos,  but  Marranos  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Some  eighty  years  ago,  under  the 
cruel  reign  of  Shah  Noureddin's  father,  the  Jews  of 
Meshed  were  persecuted  beyond  the  point  of  endur- 
ance. They  were  given  Mahomet's  choice  of  Islam  or 
the  sword.  They  chose  Islam,  but  though  they  have 
since  outwardly  conformed,  and  are  known  as  Yadidin, 
they  have  never  abandoned  Jewish  observances.  Only 
they  practice  their  crypto-Judaism  in  stealth  and  in 
terror  for  their  lives.  If  they  go  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
Mecca,  they  pass  Jerusalem  by  the  way,  and  the  wail- 
ing wall  is  to  them  still  more  sacred  than  the  black 
stone  of  the  Kibla.  There  are  said  to  be  two  thousand 
such  Yadidin  at  Meshed,  fifty  or  sixty  families  at  Merv, 
a  few  at  Aschabad,  and  several  at  Bokhara  and  Samar- 
kand. At  Samarkand  I  had  the  privilege  of  becoming 
godfather  to  the  son  of  such  a  Yadida,  who  keeps  every 
Jewish  custom  scrupulously,  and  is  bitterly  ashamed  of 
his  and  his  father's  temporary  bowing  in  the  Temple 
of  Rimmon.  The  Russians,  whose  frontier  policy  has 
always  been  somewhat  Machiavellian,  are  said  to  en- 


ZAKASPIE  215 

courage  the  settlement  of  such  Yadidin  as  well  as  the 
Babis,  or  Shiite  Protestants,  within  their  borders,  as 
tending  to  Russianize  the  adjoining  territories. 

RIVER  Oxus 

A  couple  of  hundred  versts  beyond  Merv,  we  come 
to  the  far-famed  Amu  Daria,  the  Oxus  of  the  classics, 
but  dear  to  all  Islam  as  the  Gihon,  or  Jihoun,  of  Scrip- 
ture. On  our  way  out  we  were  fortunate  enough  to 
find  that  the  long  but  frail  wooden  bridge  had  broken 
down,  and  that  there  was  solution  of  continuity  where 
the  current  was  most  rapid.  And  so  we  had  to  cross 
the  Oxus  on  a  little  steamboat  which  had  been  brought 
there  by  rail  in  eight  parts  a  few  months  before.  We 
saw  other  steamers  lying  off  Chardjuy,  which  is  a 
quaint  and  quite  important  little  town  on  the  banks 
of  the  great  river.  One  of  these  steamers  had  just 
brought  some  hundreds  of  time-expired  soldiers  from 
Kharki,  the  chief  Russian  garrison  on  the  Afghan 
frontier.  I  was  told  that  there  are  never  less  than 
three  thousand  Russian  soldiers  under  arms  at  Kharki, 
ready  for  any  emergency,  and  to  judge  by  the  numbers 
of  ex-soldiers  we  saw,  this  number  is  probably  under 
the  mark.  A  Russian  soldier's  length  of  service  varies 
according  to  the  station  of  his  regiment,  from  two  years 
and  eight  months  in  Europe  to  six  years  and  eight 
months  in  the  Amoor  Province,  east  of  China,  where 
Russian  troops  are  concentrating  more  and  more.  At 
Kharki  they  serve  as  Turkestan  soldiers  for  four  years 
and  eight  months.  The  disembarkation  was  effected 
in  such  rollicking  high  spirits  as  spoke  volumes  both 
for  the  monotony  of  Kharki  and  the  bonhomie  of  the 
Russian  soldier,  which  nearly  five  years  oMron  drill 


216  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

had  been  unable  to  quell.  Some  of  these  soldiers  were 
on  their  way  back  to  their  homes  on  the  German  fron- 
tier, near  Lodz,  and  all  were  delighted  at  the  prospect 
of  the  fatted  calf  that  was  in  preparation  for  them. 
They  were  merry  souls,  and  vowed  that  the  Czar  gives 
his  men  enough  to  eat,  and  with  a  light  heart  talked  of 
the  coming  war  with  the  "  Anglichanka,"  or  English 
Lady,  as  Queen  Victoria  was  called.  Our  trans-ship- 
ment from  train  to  steamer  was  very  picturesque,  and 
lent  itself  to  the  camera.  Turcoman  porters,  half-naked 
and  quite  regardless  of  the  tropical  sun,  carried  the 
most  nondescript  kinds  of  burdens  down  the  inclined 
plane  which  had  been  improvised  to  lead  from  the  rail- 
road to  the  meadow  of  lofty  bulrushes  which  hid  the 
river  banks.  The  contents  of  our  train  would  have 
astonished  the  most  phlegmatic  Yankee  traveller: 
feather-beds  and  mattresses  and  pillows  of  every  hue; 
melons  as  large  as  pumpkins,  and  grapes  in  bunches 
which  recalled  those  of  the  Jewish  spies  in  the  wil- 
derness ;  guns  more  ornamental  than  effective,  and 
umbrellas  of  all  sorts  ;  modern  Gladstone  bags  and  sad- 
dle-bags, or  "  Marfrush,"  that  might  have  carried  the 
possessions  of  the  Patriarchs  thousands  of  years  ago. 
A  train  was  waiting  on  the  other  side,  but  the  cross- 
ing was  difficult,  calling  for  delicate  navigation,  and 
took  four  hours.  The  main  stream  of  the  Oxus  is  only 
six  hundred  and  fifty  yards  wide,  but  the  bridge  is 
placed  at  a  wider  part,  where  there  are  islands  to  but- 
tress it.  The  main  channel  is  twenty-five  to  twenty- 
nine  feet  deep,  and  the  rapidity  of  the  current  reminds 
one  of  the  Rhone  at  Lyons.  It  must  run  at  least  six 
miles  an  hour.  In  ordinary  circumstances  the 
train  takes  pretty  nearly  half-an-hour  to  cross  the 


ZAKASPIE  217 

bridge  from  end  to  end.  An  ordinary  engine  is  too 
heavy  to  be  trusted  upon  it,  and  so  a  tiny  engine- 
tender  on  four  wheels  takes  its  place,  and  looks  more 
like  a  model  than  a  work-a-day  locomotive. 

East  of  the  Amu  Daria  the  oasis  soon  loses  itself  in 
sand  once  more.  Whether  it  is  that  the  banks  are  too 
steep  to  admit  of  extensive  inundation,  or  that  the  soil 
is  too  thirsty,  or  the  sand  too  persistent,  the  "  other 
side  of  the  river,"  as  the  natives  call  it,  is  disappointing- 
ly arid.  One  was  almost  forced  to  perpetrate  the  pun 
that  the  great  river  was,  after  all,  but  "  a  mud  area." 
"  Loess  "  is  as  rich  and  fertile  as  Nile  mud,  and  yields 
eightyfold.  Only  there  is  not  enough  of  it,  for  the 
desert  soon  swallows  up  its  curious  melon  gardens,  and 
a  hundred  versts  intervene  between  the  river  and  the 
great  oasis  of  Bokhara. 

NEW  BOKHARA 

As  the  train  approached  Bokhara  Station,  the  natives 
showed  obvious  marks  of  excitement,  and  the  scene  at 
the  railway  station  was  quite  touching  to  witness. 
The  phlegmatic  Oriental  of  fable  is  not  to  be  seen  in 
Turkestan.  On  the  contrary,  the  native  seems  all 
nerves  and  emotions.  Pilgrims  were  welcomed 
by  the  stay-at-homes  with  kisses  and  embraces, 
and  even  a  mere  acquaintance  stroked  his  beard,  if  he 
had  one,  or  his  face,  if  he  had  not,  in  token  of  satisfac- 
tion and  welcome.  Bokhara  station  is  about  ten  miles 
distant  from  the  capital.  It  is  surrounded  by  "  Novoe 
Bokhara,"  a  new  Persian  town,  intensely  dull  and  su- 
premely uninteresting,  where  reside  all  the  Euro- 
peans whom  business  or  office  requires  to  live  near  the 
famous  old  city.  There  are  two  hotels  of  one  story 


218  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

and  scant  accommodation,  and  the  large  and  important- 
looking  Embassy,  where  the  amiable  political  agent,  M. 
Ignatieff,  resides.  The  road  to  Old  Bokhara  is  not 
devoid  of  interest.  Cotton  plantations,  a  picturesque 
village  or  two,  and  many  trees  relieve  the  monotony 
of  the  way,  and  a  continuous  stream  of  natives  on 
horseback,  camel-back,  and  donkey-back,  narrow  carts 
with  colossal  wheels,  and  worn-out  Droshkys  raise  the 
dust  and  prevent  one  from  feeling  lonely.  Nearer 
Bokhara  one  passes  rose  and  pomegranate  gardens, 
the  Gulistans  of  Persian  poetry,  but,  alas,  they  are  sur- 
rounded by  high  walls,  and  the  gate-keepers  are  either 
dense  or  not  venal. 

BOKHARA 

Bokhara  itself  is  a  wonderful  old  city.  Surrounded 
by  a  picturesque  old  wall  of  the  time  of  the  Crusaders, 
with  castellated  gates  and  towers,  it  has  no  room  to 
expand.  There  are  burial-grounds  within  the  walls, 
which  still  further  restrict  the  space  available  for  build- 
ing. But,  happily,  Russian  advice,  which  is  here 
equivalent  to  a  command,  precludes  the  Bokhariots 
from  any  longer  burying  their  dead  near  the  houses 
of  the  living.  Their  streets  are  narrow  and  not 
straight,  and  on  either  side  rise  the  high  walls  of  truly 
Oriental  houses,  with  windows  giving  only  on  internal 
courts.  At  sundown  the  gates  are  shut  and  the  streets 
deserted.  The  rash  traveller  who  has  delayed  his  re- 
turn to  town  till  night  has  to  rouse  the  watchman  and 
persuade  him  to  open  the  city  gate.  And,  expcrto 
crede,  it  is  both  uncomfortable  and  uncanny  to  grope 
one's  way  home  through  dark  and  empty  lanes  with  all 
the  curs  of  Bokhara  barking  at  one's  heels.  Near  the 


ZAKASPIE  219 

centre  of  the  bazaar  one  or  two  watchmen,  with  lan- 
tern and  rattles,  make  night  hideous  by  their  cries, 
and  scare  the  ghosts.  But  I  have  walked  nearly  two 
miles  in  Bokhara,  within  the  walls,  without  seeing  a 
single  soul,  and  that  a  good  two  hours  before  midnight. 
There  are  two  or  three  caravanserais  in  the  old 
town,  but  no  place  where  for  payment  a  European  can 
lodge  with  any  comfort.  I  was  fortunate  enough  to 
be  put  up  at  the  Moscow  Bank,  the  only  building 
furnished  in  anything  like  European  style.  But,  of 
course,  the  absence  of  all  signs  of  Western  civilization 
makes  Bokhara  all  the  more  interesting.  A  week  is 
not  too  long  a  time  to  spend  there. 

JEWS 

Most  of  that  time  I  spent  with  my  co-religionists, 
of  whom  four  or  five  thousand  reside  there,  inhabiting 
a  special  quarter,  and  wearing  a  special  badge  on  their 
clothing.  Their  Rabbi  is  Mollah  Hezekiah  ha-Kohen, 
whose  father  had  been  Rabbi  before  him.  Perhaps  I 
was  prejudiced  in  their  favor,  but  they  certainly 
struck  me  as  most  intelligent  and  hospitable.  Many 
of  them  were  great  travellers.  One  man  had  been  to 
China  ;  several  had  visited  India  by  way  of  Afghanistan 
and  the  Khyber  Pass.  At  least  a  couple  of  hundred 
were  Hadjis  who  had  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  there  are  at  the  present  moment  at  least 
that  number  of  Bokhariots  settled  in  Jerusalem  with 
the  pious  purpose  of  living  and  dying  there.  Most 
of  the  travelled  Jews  of  Bokhara  have  been  to  Moscow, 
many  to  Paris,  and  some  to  London.  One  good  man 
had  been  five  times  to  Moscow.  His  first  journey 
was  by  caravan,  by  way  of  Astrakhan  and  the  Volga, 


220  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

and  it  took  him  eighty  days  and  cost  him  five  hundred 
roubles.  But  that  was  nearly  forty  years  ago.  None 
of  the  Bokhariot  Jews  are  rich,  but  most  of  them  seem 
to  earn  a  livelihood.  Some  are  cotton  growers,  and  some 
grow  grapes,  and  some  cultivate  tobacco ;  many  are 
merchants  trading  to  Moscow,  and  exchanging  carpets 
for  manufactured  goods,  and  importing  India  tea,  from 
Bombay,  via  Batoum  and  Baku. 

Their  standard  of  culture  is  much  higher  than  might 
be  expected.  Half  of  them  could  speak  Hebrew,  and 
in  synagogue  on  Rosh  Hashanah,  I  heard  an  itinerant 
Rabbi  from  Safed  preach  evolution  in  a  Hebrew  ser- 
mon. His  theme  was  the  Rabbinical  dictum  that 
"Repentance,  Prayer,  and  Charity  avert  the  evil  de- 
cree." But  how,  he  asked,  can  the  world's  course  be 
changed?  And  he  answered,  that  gradually  and  by 
degrees  we  can  divert  the  mightiest  river,  and  per- 
suade Nature  to  change  her  countenance. 

SYNAGOGUE 

The  chief  synagogue  is  some  five  or  six  hundred 
years  old,  with  additions  of  more  modern  date,  consti- 
tuting something  like  chapels  in  a  cathedral,  divine 
service  being  held  separately  in  each.  Of  course, 
it  has  a  Genizah,  or  hidden  chamber,  in  the  roof, 
for  the  preservation  of  disused  sacred  writings.  Among 
the  papers  there,  I  found,  carefully  folded  up,  no 
less  an  antique  than  a  placard  printed  in  Bengali 
and  English,  and  announcing  a  conjuring  performance 
which  was  to  have  taken  place  at  Calcutta  in  1866, 
under  the  auspices  of  one  Professor  Vanek,  "  Grand 
Wizard  of  the  North  "  ! 

Most  of  the  Jewish  householders  had  books,  gener- 


ZAKASPIE  221 

ally  in  Hebrew,  or  Persian  in  Hebrew  characters. 
But  they  were  richer  in  early  prints  than  in  manu- 
scripts. There  were  several  incunabula,  and  amongst 
them  the  Ixar  Pentateuch  printed  in  Spain  in  1490,  two 
years  before  the  expulsion  of  the  Spanish  Jews.  The 
copy  is  important,  because  of  its  marginal  notes  and 
corrections,  which  show  that  it  had  been  collated  at 
Cairo  with  the  famous  Ben  Asher  Codex,  written  there 
in  897,  exactly  one  thousand  years  ago,  and  the  oldest 
dated  Hebrew  Bible  MS.  in  the  world.  There  were  also 
some  pages  of  the  Catalonian  prayer  book,  printed  in 
1526  in  Salonica  for  the  Jewish  exiles  from  Barcelona, 
and  many  Constantinopolitan  prints,  which  are  either 
unique  or  very  rare.  Habent  sua  fata  libelli  may  be 
fitly  applied  to  the  wandering  Jewish  books. 

ETHNOLOGY 

There  are  perhaps  twenty  thousand  Jews  in  the 
Khanate,  most  of  whom  live  in  the  towns.  Jews  have 
for  centuries  been  resident  in  both  country  and  capital. 
Like  their  neighbors,  the  Afghans,  the  Bokhariots  in 
general,  and  especially  the  Turcomans,  are  by  many 
believed  to  be  descended  from  the  Ten  Tribes ;  but  the 
Jews  of  Bokhara  are  Talmud  Jews,  and  are  probably 
descended  from  the  Babylonian  Jews  who  migrated 
eastward  after  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Romans.  Their  family  names  prove  that  many  came 
from  Persia  zna  Merv  and  some  from  Khiva. 
•  The  Chinese  Jews  of  Kai-Fong-Foo  are  probably 
originally  from  Bokhara,  the  Persian  rubrics  in  their 
liturgies  being  in  the  Bokharian  dialect.  The  Bokhara 
Jews  themselves  have  a  tradition  that  their  ancestors 
settled  in  various  parts  of  Persia  and  especially  at 


222  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

Sabzawar,  two  clays'  journey  from  Meshed ;  that  they 
were  removed  thence  under  the  conqueror  Genghis 
Khan  (1220)  to  Balkh  and  Samarkand  ;  and  that  when 
Samarkand  fell  into  ruin,  under  Babi  Mehemet  Khan, 
the  conqueror  of  Shah  Abbas  (1598),  they  went  to 
Bokhara,  where  there  was  a  Jewish  colony;  and  some 
of  them  emigrated  thence  to  Tsheen  Patsheen  (China), 
but  soon  ceased  to  have  communication  with  their 
mother-country,  though  they  "carried  their  gene- 
alogies with  them." 

The  missionary  Wolff  visited  Bokhara,  in  1832, 
when  Mollah  Pinchas,  the  elder,  was  chief  Rabbi,  and 
there  were  four  synagogues  in  the  city.  Wolff  esti- 
mated the  number  of  Jews  at  ten  thousand,  and  he 
states  that  they  paid  only  three  hundred  dollars  per 
annum  by  way  of  tax  to  Bahadur  Khan.  He  also 
states  that  there  were  three  hundred  Jewish  families, 
converts  to  Mohammedanism,  who  were  scorned  by 
the  general  population,  and  who  intermarried  with  the 
Gholoom  or  slaves  of  Persia  and  not  with  the  Uzbegs. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  one 
Joseph  ben  Moses  Maimon,  a  native  of  Tetuan,  and 
therefore  called  "  Mughrebi,"  came  to  Bokhara  via 
Jerusalem  and  Bagdad.  He  found  the  Jews  ignorant 
and  unobservant,  and  revolutionized  their  ritual  and 
practice,  sending  to  Europe  for  Hebrew  books.  The 
Jews  have  now  forgotten  their  old  Persian  liturgy  and 
have  adopted  that  of  the  Sephardim  of  Italy,  in  the 
belief  that  they  are  descended,  as  Maimon  was,  from 
the  Spanish  refugees  of  1492.  Rabbi  Joseph  Maimon 
had  an  unsuccessful  rival  in  a  learned  Yemenite  Jew, 
Rabbi  Zachariah  ben  Mazliach. 


ZAKASPIE  223 

MANUSCRIPTS  AND  LITERATURE 

Here  and  in  the  neighborhood,  I  acquired  about 
seventy  Hebrew  and  Hebrew-Persian  manuscripts, 
one  of  which  was  written  in  Herat,  many  of  them  being 
transliterations  into  Hebrew  of  the  great  Persian  poets, 
such  as  Sadi,  lami,  and  Nizami,  and  lesser  local  cele- 
brities, like  Tufili,  Zeribu  of  Samarkand,  and 
Musahfiki. 

In  1490  there  flourished  Uzziel  Moses  ben  David, 
who  wrote  poems  in  Hebrew  and  Persian.  Other 
Jewish  poets  were  Yusuf  Yehudi  ben  Isaac  (1688- 
1755),  mentioned  above,  and  his  friends  Uzbek,  Elisha, 
and  Solomon  Mollah.  Somewhat  later  were  David  ben 
Abraham  ben  *jpiD>  Uzziel,  Benjamin  Siman-Tob,  and 
Eleazar  ha-Kohen,  and,  in  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  Ibrahim  ibn  Abu  al-Khair,  author  of  the 
"  Khadaidad  "  (ed.  Salemann,  St.  Petersburg,  1897). 

CITY  SIGHTS 

The  show  places  of  1  Bokhara — its  horrible  prison, 
its  lofty  isolated  minaret,  from  the  top  of  which  cap- 
tives were  hurled  by  way  of  punishment,  its  Medres- 
ses  (colleges)  and  mosques,  its  busy  rcgistan,  or  mar- 
ket place,  gleaming  with  melons  and  many-colored 
silks,  its  sleepy  tanks  embowered  in  trees,  its  camels, 
veiled  women,  and  Hadjis,  its  sleek  Persian  cats, 
its  quaint  potteries  and  oil  mills — all  these  have  been 
often  and  eloquently  described.  But  Bokhara  will  ever 
abide  in  my  memory  for  its  kaleidoscopic  multitude  of 
human  pictures.  Every  type  of  the  Orient  is  here' 
represented,  with  not  a  single  inharmonious  Western 


224  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

face  to  break  the  spell.  The  crafty  Afghan,  the  proud 
Pathan,  the  big  Turcoman,  the  plausible  Hindoo,  the 
dapper  Persian,  and  the  heathen  Chinee — these  are  but 
a  few  of  the  characters  that  walk  in  that  old-world 
city. 

SAMARKAND 

Samarkand  as  a  city  of  ruins  is  much  more  imposing 
than  Bokhara,  and  for  the  ordinary  globe-trotter  per- 
fectly entrancing.  Everything  is  associated  with  the 
name  of  its  great  citizen,  Tamerlane,  and  even  the  tomb 
of  Daniel  the  prophet  is  brought  into  relation  with  that 
mighty  monarch.  The  sarcophagus  is  over  twenty 
yards  long,  as  beseems  a  prophet's  stature.  It  has 
been  recently  covered  by  a  brick  •  chapel  with  three 
cupolas,  but  photographs  of  the  ancient  structure  can 
be  had  in  Samarkand.  It  is  grandly  placed  at  the  edge 
of  a  cliff  overhanging  the  rapid  river  Seop.  Tradition 
has  it  that  Tamerlane  had  seen  a  tomb  at  Susa,  in  Per- 
sia, with  a  warning  inscribed  thereon  that  none  should 
open  its  door.  And  so  he  broke  it  open  from  behind, 
and  found  it  written  that  Nebi  Daniel  was  there  buried, 
and  the  impetuous  conqueror  had  the  sarcophagus  re- 
moved with  all  reverence,  and  carried  it  with  him  to 
his  own  capital  to  be  its  palladium. 

The  local  Jews  do  not  believe  the  story  nor  do  they 
quite  disbelieve  it,  for  I  went  with  two  who  prayed 
there  as  at  the  grave  of  the  righteous.  Some  of  them 
think  that  Samarkand  is  the  new  Samaria  founded 
by  the  Ten  Tribes  what  time  Israel  was  taken  captive 
by  Shalmaneser,  King  of  Assyria. 


ZAKASPIE  225 

TAMERLANE 

But  Tamerlane's  tomb  is  not  apocryphal,  and  it  is 
really  one  of  the  most  impressive  of  the  world's  show- 
places.  The  entrance  to  the  building  is,  of  course,  or- 
namented with  a  marvellous  display  of  the  floral  and 
geometric  turquoise  and  green  and  other  tiles  for  which 
the  city  is  so  famous.  They  are  not  lustrous  but  rather 
dead  in  color  and  yet  not  the  less  beautiful.  The 
interior  is  a  small  chapel  with  some  half-dozen  coffins — 
Tamerlane's  is  of  black  stone,  and  his  son's,  his 
mother's,  and  his  teacher's  are  of  the  whitest  marble, 
with  two  plumed  standards  at  the  head  of  the  Ulema. 
In  the  vault  below  are  the  actual  marble  caskets  in 
which  the  bodies  were  enshrined.  Tamerlane's  is 
closely  engraved  with  Arabic  characters.  The  sur- 
rounding border  announces  all  his  titles,  "  Ameer  Ti- 
mur,"  etc.,  and  the  body  of  the  inscription  gives  his 
pedigree  up  to  Adam,  the  whole  altogether  more  legi- 
ble than  credible. 

Of  Ulug  Beg,  the  astronomer,  and  Baba  Khaneem, 
the  foreign  queen,  and  all  the  other  cinquo  cento 
worthies,  there  are  numerous  memorials  still  extant. 
Most  of  them,  however,  have  suffered  seriously  from 
the  effects  of  the  earthquake  on  Friday,  September 
24.  Cracks  have  widened,  many  tiles  have  tumbled 
down,  and  walls  have  fallen  or  threaten  to  fall.  The 
crooked  minarets  of  the  great  Medres  have  become 
more  crooked  still,  and  even  modern  buildings  have 
been  much  damaged.  There  were  two  distinct  shocks 
at  eight  and  eleven  in  the  evening,  and  nothing  like  it 
has  been  known  for  a  generation.  The  inhabitants 
were  terror-stricken.  But  earthquakes  are  by  no  means 


226  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

uncommon  nor  are  violent  weather  changes  infrequent, 
so  that  it  would  be  a  boon  to  science  if  Russia  would 
establish  seismological  observatories  throughout  its 
Asiatic  possessions,  with  a  view  to  the  registration  of 
such  phenomena. 

RUSSIANIZATION 

Apart  from  its  ruins  Samarkand  is  not  particularly 
fascinating.  It  has  been  Russian  for  several  years,  and 
the  contrast  between  the  native  and  the  modern  quarter 
tends  to  grow  less  and  less  striking.  The  Sart  Bazaar 
has  been  made  accessible  for  carriages  by  an  autocratic 
road  which  has  broken  right  through  the  ancient  town 
and  divided  it  in  twain.  The  tout  ensemble  therefore 
is  not  so  picturesque  as  Bokhara's,  but  it  has  many 
beautiful  corners  and  archways,  and  clumps  of  ancient 
trees.  It  is  not  a  walled  city,  and  all  the  houses  seem 
to  have  been  able  to  expand  freely,  so  that  flowers  and 
trees  grace  every  courtyard.  It  lies  a  thousand  feet 
higher  than  Bokhara,  with  a  greater  rain-fall,  and  oc- 
casional snow. 

Samarkand  boasts  a  museum,  which  contains  a  num- 
ber of  rare  Bactrian  and  Persian  coins,  as  well  as 
specimens  from  the  coal  mines  in  the  Bokhara  Hills, 
and  the  alluvial  gold  found  in  the  neighborhood. 
Preparation  is  also  being  made  for  the  bond  fide  travel- 
ler, for  posted  up  outside  the  more  notable  ruins  are 
notices  in  four  languages  warning  the  tourist  under 
heavy  penalties  not  to  deface  nor  remove  any  antiques. 
These  languages  of  travel  are  Russian,  Persian, 
French,  and  English.  This  zeal  for  the  protection 
of  monuments  is  a  new  and  welcome  feature  in  the 
Russian  character. 


ZAKASPIE  227 

Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Russians  have  distinguished 
themselves  by  their  intelligent  plantations.  The 
"  Avrahamovsky  Bonlevar "  is  a  magnificent  avenue 
of  twelve  rows  of  poplars,  and  a  worthy  monument  of 
Samarkand's  first  governor.  The  last,  Count  Ros- 
toffzoff,  has  just  died  and  is  bitterly  lamented.  He 
was  remarkable  for  his  English  sympathies,  and,  in- 
deed, resided  in  London  for  some  years  in  honorable 
exile,  by  way  of  punishment  for  the  indiscretion  of 
paying  a  visit,  at  Biarritz,  to  the  great  Russian  socia- 
list, A.  E.  Herzen.  It  is  significant  of  Russian  pro- 
gress that  Alexander  II.  pardoned  and  promoted  him, 
and  that  Nicholas  II.  allows  Smirnof's  "  Life  and 
Work  of  Herzen  at  Home  and  Abroad  "  to  be  pub- 
lished in  St.  Petersburg  and  become  the  favorite  book 
of  1897. 

The  glory  of  New  Samarkand  seems  on  the  wane. 
It  is  no  longer  the  terminus  of  the  Transcaspian  Rail- 
way, for  this  has  now  been  extended  as  far  as  Tash- 
kend,  the  capital  of  Turkestan  and  seat  of  Baron 
Vrevsky's  government.  The  new  line  is  to  be  opened 
in  May,  and  is  only  an  installment  of  Russian  railway 
activity.  It  is  expected  to  join  the  great  Manchurian 
main  line  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake 
Balkhash.  Russian  officials  at  home  and  abroad  are 
furnished  with  a  very  interesting  railway  map  of  Asia, 
showing  the  lines  constructed  or  in  progress  of  con- 
struction or  projected  in  Siberia.  China,  and  India. 
The  map  makes  one  thoughtful.  But  if  a  flying  visit 
to  Turkestan  justifies  the  expression  of  an  opinion,  one 
would  be  inclined  to  say  that  the  great  eastward  stream 
of  Russian  expansion  has  been  diverted  by  the  Himala- 
yas, and  is  flowing  steadily  but  irresistibly,  not  to  India, 


228  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

but  to  China.  And  in  Asia  there  is  room  for  two  great 
empires,  and  England  and  Russia  have  no  longer  any 
cause  for  quarrel. 

COTTON 

Commercially,  the  Transcaspian  Railway  has  already 
worked  wonders.  A  great  trade  in  cotton  has  been 
created  by  it.  In  Samarkand,  as  in  Bokhara,  cotton 
is  gradually  ousting  the  grape  from  its  area  of  culti- 
vation, although  for  centuries  the  grape  has  been  the 
Turcoman  boast.  Even  now,  it  is  no  rare  thing  for  a 
local  magnate  to  have  at  one  and  the  same  banquet 
six  or  eight  kinds  of  grapes  on  his  table,  or  rather  on 
his  carpet,  for  there  are  no  tables.  Of  these,  the  long 
Cabul  grape,  shaped  like  a  kidney,  seems  the  strangest. 

Three  million  poods  of  cotton  were  exported  in 
1896.  Two  million  came  from  Khokan,  including  Sa- 
markand, and  five  hundred  thousand  from  Bokhara. 
Half  a  million  poods  were  bought  by  Poznanski,  a 
great  Jewish  manufacturer,  who  employs  seven  thous- 
and hands  in  his  cotton  mills  at  Lodz  in  Poland.  I 
was  told  that  the  greater  part  of  the  trade  was  in  the 
hands  of  our  co-religionists,  and  that,  though  the 
Transcaspian  was  outside  the  Pale  of  Jewish  Settle- 
ment, and  de  jure  tabooed  to  the  Jew,  the  Government 
welcomed  them  de  facto  as  bringing  money,  business, 
and  prosperity  to  their  new  possessions.  Technically, 
the  Panslavist  would  rather  have  Turkestan  and  Siberia 
peopled  by  Slavs.  The  Jews,  though  they  be  Russian, 
are  not  Slavs,  and  are  therefore  outside  the  sympathies 
of  the  soi-disant  Russian  patriot.  But  he  has  learnt 
by  the  experience  of  at  least  one  generation  that  the 
Slavonic  race  is  difficult  to  acclimatize  in  the  burning 


ZAKASPIE  229 

sands  of  Turkestan  or  the  icy  plains  of  Siberia.  So 
he  finds  himself  compelled  to  welcome  the  more  adapt- 
able Hebrew. 

And  herein,  I  venture  to  assert,  lies  the  true  solution 
of  the  Russo-Jewish  question.  No  millionaire,  no 
cohort  of  millionaires,  no  government,  however  strong, 
can  tempt  or  command  a  population  of  millions  to  cross 
the  seas.  Only  in  Russia  itself  can  the  question  be 
solved.  And  Russia  is  great  enough  to  suffice  for  all  its 
inhabitants,  even  for  its  Jews.  The  resources  of 
Siberia  and  Central  Asia  are  gigantic  beyond  the 
dreams  of  avarice.  The  world  is  only  now  beginning 
to  wake  to  them.  It  is  a  matter  of  history  that  Jews 
helped  to  develop  the  trade  of  America,  of  India,  of 
Australia,  of  Africa.  Let  Russia  open  the  gates  of 
the  Pale,  and  she  will  find  that  her  Jewish  children 
will  be  of  the  makers  of  her  Eastern  Empire.  And  the 
stone  which  the  builders  had  refused  will  become  the 
headstone  of  the  corner. 


A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE 

Township,  Village,  and  Farm — The  Pampa — Prospects — Rus- 
sians and  Roumanians  Compared  —  Jews  in  Argentine. 

TOWNSHIP,  VILLAGE,  AND  FARM 

A  JOURNEY  across  South  America  by  way  of  the  Andes 
gives  one  the  opportunity  of  visiting  Moisesville  via 
Rosario  before  touching  Buenos  Ayres.  The  latest 
report  of  the  Jewish  Colonization  Association  (Paris: 
Veneziani,  1902)  gives  some  particulars  about  the 
Hirsch  Colonies  in  Argentine,  though  it  neither  men- 
tions the  staff  or  even  the  Director,  nor  gives  the 
slightest  hint  as  to  their  locality  or  nearest  railway 
stations.  But  Moisesville  is  a  station  on  the  narrow- 
gauge  line  of  the  Compagnie  Franqaise  des  chemins  de 
fer  de  Santa  Fe,  and  by  reference  to  a  time-table  I  was 
able  to  reach  it,  mosquito-bitten  and  perspiring,  one 
blazing  Sunday  in  December,  1902.  The  route  I  chose 
was  not  the  best ;  the  proper  station  would  have  been 
Palacios,  on  the  Buenos  Ayres  and  Rosario  (English) 
line,  about  eighteen  hours'  distance  from  Buenos  Ayres, 
but  arrival  by  the  one  line  and  departure  by  the  other 
give  one  the  opportunity  of  traversing  several  extra 
miles  of  the  estate. 

The  Colony  has  already  seven  railway  stations  upon 
it,  and  comprises-  fifty  square  leagues,  each  of  twenty- 
five  square  kilometres,  an  area  larger  than  many  an 
English  county,  with  a  scattered  population,  of  which 
two  thousand  are  Jews  and  rather  more  than  two  hun- 
dred colonist  farmers.  These  farmers  are  located  in 


A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE  231 

one  of  three  methods  :     (a)  in  Moisesville  Township ; 

(b)  in  small  village  groups,  each  of  four  farms;  and 

(c)  isolated  along  lines.     The  first  system  is  the  oldest 
and  worst ;  the  last,  or  lineal  system,  is  considered  the 
best,  but  the  second  appeals  alike  to  the  clannishness  of 
the  Jew,  four  prolific  families  easily  supplying  Minyan, 
while  the  practical  sense  of  the  agriculturist  enables 
him  to  live  on  his  land.     Four  farms  are  grouped 
together,   intersected  by  a  road,  with  the   dwelling- 
houses  at  the  adjoining  corners  of  the  four  farms, 
with  Quintas,  or  gardens,  as  boundary. 

Moisesville  proper  is  rather  less  than  a  quarter  of 
the  whole  Colony  in  extent ;  it  is  situated  in  the  S.  E., 
while  to  the  N.  E.  lies  Vavelberg,  to  the  N.  W.  Monor 
cotes  and  Leven,  and  to  the  S.  W.  Zadoc  Kahn. 
North  of  Vavelberg  is  a  tract  of  land,  marked  Jewish 
Colonization  Association  on  the  plan,  some  of  which 
is  virgin  forest  and  which  remains  as  yet  unallotted. 
Palacios  lies  between  Zadoc  Kahn  and  Moisesville, 
and  is  an  early  Argentine  Colony,  named  after  its 
owner,  and  not  all  of  it  has  yet  been  acquired  by  the 
Jewish  Colonization  Association.  The  railway  lines 
run  from  north  to  south,  the  French  line  constituting 
the  Eastern  boundary,  while  the  English  line  runs 
between  Zadoc  Kahn  and  Palacios.  Herr  Arturo  Bab, 
the  Director  of  Moisesville,  is  an  agriculturist  trained 
in  Prussia,  and  taught  for  some  time  in  the  Jewish 
Agricultural  School  at  Ahlem,  near  Hanover.  He 
has  been  about  seven  years  at  Mauricio  Colony,  but 
only  some  months  in  Moisesville.  The  late  Adminis- 
trator was  Mr.  Miquel  Cohan. 


232  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

THE  PAMPA 

What  most  impresses  the  European  traveller  about 
the  Province  of  Santa  Fe  in  general  and  Moisesville 
Colony  in  particular,  is  the  treeless  flatness  of  the 
place.  It  forms  part  of  the  endless  pampa.  The  soil 
is  very  rich,  and  produces  six  to  eight  crops  of  lucerne 
or  alfalfa  grass  every  year.  There  is  no  lack  of  water, 
though  it  is  said  that  since  the  ground  has  been  culti- 
vated, one  has  to  dig  two  or  three  times  as  deep  for  it 
as  one  used  to,  but  it  is  always  found  within  nine 
metres  of  the  surface.  When  I  was  there,  there  was, 
unfortunately,  too  much  water.  Tropical  rain-storms 
had  destroyed  two  months'  crops  of  alfalfa  and  most  of 
the  wheat,  and  only  the  maize  was  still  promising. 
The  colonists  were  much  depressed. 

The  heat  was  terrific;  there  was  no  shade,  and  it 
was  obvious  that  even  the  cattle,  some  of"  which  were 
fine  English  beasts,  suffered  from  want  of  shade. 
Each  colonist  is  allowed  a  few  Eucalyptus  trees  gratis, 
and  as  many  Paraiso  trees  as  he  wants.  Paraiso 
trees  have  the  advantage  of  being  distasteful  to  the 
locust.  But  our  colonists  are  either  too  poor  or  too 
lazy  to  plant  trees  except  when  an  immediate  profit  is 
in  sight,  and  so  the  fine  Durham  cows  and  even  the 
native  horses  languish  and  deteriorate.  Only  one  of 
the  colonists  at  Moisesville  keeps  sheep,  although  I 
saw  some  good  flocks  in  the  part  of  Palacios  not  yet 
acquired  by  the  Jewish  Colonization  Association,  where 
also  were  some  fine  avenues  of  trees  planted  perhaps 
twenty  years  ago.  And  there  are  some  trees  round 
the  administration  building  and  the  synagogue. 


A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE  233 

PROSPECTS 

One  cannot  help  feeling  somewhat  discouraged  at 
the  prospects  of  Moisesville  or  the  aptitudes  of  the 
Jewish  agriculturist  there.  Perhaps  he  has  more 
chances  at  Mauricio,  which  is  in  the  Province  of 
Buenos  Ayres  itself,  and  only  eight  hours  from  the 
capital.  Land  there  is  constantly  appreciating  in 
value,  and  is  now  worth  three  times  what  Baron  de 
Hirsch  gave  for  it.  But  at  Moisesville  and,  indeed, 
throughout  the  Province  of  Santa  Fe,  a  succession  of 
bad  years  has  kept  the  value  of  land  stationary,  and 
even  the  great  English  cattle-breeding  estancia  of  St. 
Cristobal  (two  or  three  stations  to  the  north  of  Moises- 
ville) is  said  to  be  doing  badly.  The  scattered  Colo- 
nies in  Entre  Rios,  on  the  other  side  of  the  River  Plate, 
are  said  to  be  not  more  satisfactory.  I  met  a  Govern- 
ment Inspector  of  Agriculture  on  the  railway,  and  he 
told  me  that  hitherto  the  direction  of  our  Colony  had 
been  bad,  and  altogether  he  was  not  very  optimistic  as 
to  its  future.  This  was  the  more  disappointing  after 
the  congratulatory  tone  of  the  letter  of  Senor  Iturraspe, 
the  Intendente  of  Santa  Fe,  who  visited  the  Colony  in 
January,  1902.  It  is  published  in  the  Jewish  Coloniza- 
tion Association  Report  of  June  22,  1902,  but,  of 
course,  allowance  should  be  made  for  the  inevitable 
exaggeration  of  a  polite  Castilian  visitor. 

The  Jew  seems  to  be  too  speculative  to  make  a  good 
agriculturist  even  in  the  Argentine.  He  is  too  fond  of 
putting  all  his  eggs  into  one  basket.  Lucerne  grass  paid 
very  well,  indeed,  in  1901,  and  so  he  has  devoted  him- 
self this  year  almost  exclusively  to  lucerne.  The  rain 
spoils  the  crop,  and  he  is  down  in  the  dumps,  and, 


234  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

especially  if  a  Roumanian,  quite  prepared  to  throw 
up  the  game  and  go  to  Rosario  or  Buenos  Ayres  and 
start  a  business  in  the  town,  or  open  a  shop,  or  travel 
the  country  as  a  colporteur.  If  he  went  in  for  dairy- 
farming  as  well  as  for  agriculture  proper,  if  he  culti- 
vated different  kinds  of  crops  at  the  same  time,  he 
would,  under  favorable  conditions,  make  a  little  less, 
but  the  least  favorable  would  do  him  no  irretrievable 
damage,  and  he  would  have  no  need  to  be  discouraged 
by  a  single  failure ;  he  would  divide  his  risks. 

And  agriculture  is  risky  in  the  Argentine.  Nature 
is  in  some  respects  very  kind.  The  soil  is  of  almost 
incredible  richness.  There  is  rich  loam  or  vegetable 
earth  many  centimetres  deep  all  over  Moisesville,  but 
the  tropics  are  too  near  to  justify  one  in  placing  any 
reliance  on  the  climate.  One  year  there  is  drought, 
locusts  ravage  the  pampas  in  another  year,  and  next 
year  heavy  rains,  out  of  season,  spoil  the  harvest. 
And  yet  it  is  wonderful  to  see  fifty-acre  fields,  neat 
and  trim,  with  clouds  of  yellow  butterflies  hovering 
around,  where,  fifteen  years  ago,  fierce  pumas  prowled 
and  wild  Indians  successfully  beat  back  the  timid 
advances  of  civilization.  For  the  improvement,  can- 
dor must  praise  the  railway  as  much  as  the  Jewish 
Colonization  Association,  but  even  the  Jewish  Coloni- 
zation Association  may  do  something  with  the  second 
generation  of  its  proteges.  The  children  of  our  colo- 
nists have  nothing  of  the  ghetto  bend  about  them. 
Fearless  and  high-spirited,  the  boys  and  girls  ride  the 
horses  bare-backed,  and  they  at  least  are  really 
attached  to  the  land. 


A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE  235 

RUSSIANS  AND  ROUMANIANS  COMPARED 

There  is  a  great  difference,  they  say,  between  the 
Russians  and  the  Roumanians.  The  Russian  gets  on 
better  than  the  Roumanian— at  first.  His  standard  of 
comfort  is  lower,  he  is  less  extravagant,  more  easily 
.satisfied  with  small  mercies,  and  less  discouraged  by 
the  rebuffs  either  of  nature  or  of  man.  But  the  Rouma- 
nian is  more  intelligent,  and  gets  on  better  with  the 
natives.  His  language  is  not  very  different  from  the 
Spanish,  and  a  year  suffices  to  make  his  Castilian 
fluent  and  even  classical — no  mean  advantage,  when  it 
is  remembered  that  all  the  year  round  Spanish  persons 
have  to  be  employed  on  the  farm,  and  during  harvest 
time  every  colonist  has  to  engage  at  least  three  or  four 
to  aid  him  in  preparing  his  produce  for  market.  Hired 
labor,  however,  is  expensive,  and,  if  anything,  the 
Roumanian's  family  is  smaller  than  the  Russian's,  and 
so  he  has  less  gratuitous  help.  He  finds  it  very  difficult 
to  make  both  ends  meet,  especially  in  a  bad  year,  and  so 
he  gravitates  to  the  towns. 

A  different  case,  leading  to  the  same  result,  came 
under  my  notice  when  I  left  Palacios.  At  the  next 
station  a  young  man  boarded  the  train  whose  friends 
had  driven  him  about  ten  miles  from  Moisesville  to 
see  him  off.  It  turned  out  that  he  was  a  widower  with 
a  furniture  shop  in  Buenos  Ayres,  who  had  spent  the 
last  three  days  in  the  Colony  making  the  acquaintance 
of  a  young  lady  (an  attractive  young  Jewess  of  sweet 
seventeen)  to  whom  he  had  just  become  engaged  to 
be  married.  The  farewell  was  affectionate  in  the  ex- 
treme, and  he  was  to  come  back  again  in  a  couple  of 
months  to  fetch  his  bride.  He  was  a  Caucasian  from 


236  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

the  neighborhood  of  Rostow,  and  his  father  had  been 
an  original  colonist  of  Entre  Rios,  where  they  kept  a 
Kosher  butcher  shop.  A  Spaniard  in  his  cups  had 
knifed  a  Jew  called  Abraham  Bondarow,  or  some 
such  name,  and  had  threatened  to  treat  my  friend 
in  the  same  way.  He  thought  discretion  the  better 
part  of  valor,  and  got  his  people  to  leave  the  Colony  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  the  unpunished  murderer. 
They  migrated  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  still  grumble 
that  the  Jewish  Colonization  Association  allowed  them 
only  three  hundred  dollars  for  unexhausted  improve- 
ments, the  value  of  which  they  estimate  at  ten  times 
that  sum.  But  they  have  done  very  well. 

JEWS  IN  ARGENTINE 

Whatever  one's  opinion  may  be  about  the  value  or 
success  of  the  Colonies  themselves,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  it  is  almost  exclusively  owing  to  them  that 
there  is  a  Jewish  population  of  thirty  thousand  in  the 
Argentine,  of  which  a  third  are  to  be  found  in  the 
capital.  They  have  two  synagogues  there,  both  in  the 
Calle  Lib.erdad.  In  the  rest  of  the  mainland  of  South 
America  there  are  hardly  any  Jews.  In  Panama  there 
are  a  few,  who  have  a  burial  ground  of  their  own,  the 
Hebrew  inscriptions  on  which  gave  me  a  turn  as  I 
tramped  one  appallingly  hot  day  from  the  Bocas  to 
that  city.  In  Peru  there  are  perhaps  a  dozen,  includ- 
ing the  Jamaica-born  daughter  of  an  Englishman 
married  to  a  dentist  from  the  Danish  Island  of  St. 
Thomas.  In  Chili  there  are  hardly  more,  and  in 
Brazil,  although  there  used  to  be  an  agent  of  the 
Alliance  Israelite  at  Rio,  till  he  died  a  few  months  be- 
fore my  visit,  there  is  neither  synagogue  nor  Minyan 


A  VISIT  TO  MOISESVILLE  237 

to  be  found  throughout  the  Continent,  except  perhaps 
on  Kippur.  But  the  Argentine  constitutes  a  notable  ex- 
ception, and  judging  from  the  analogies  which  Buenos 
Ayres,  with  its  rapidly  increasing  population  of  eight 
hundred  thousand,  presents  to  New  York,  it  would  not 
be  surprising  to  find  the  Jewish  millionaire  as  frequent 
there  a  generation  hence  as  he  is  now  in  the  United 
States.  But  as  to  his  agricultural  future  I  am  far  less 
sanguine.  For  the  rest,  the  central  office  of  the  Jewish 
Colonization  Association  in  Buenos  Ayres  is  located  in 
a  handsome  mansion  in  the  Calle  Callao,  where  reside 
the  two  joint  directors,  about  whom,  to  their  credit  be 
it  said,  rumor  has  never  suggested  that  they  have  ever 
had  a  difference  of  opinion.  The  one  is  Mr.  Cazes, 
formerly  Director  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  Schools  at 
Tunis,  and  author  of  a  bibliography  and  history  of 
Tunis  Jews.  The  other  is  Mr.  Hirsch,  sometime 
Principal  of  the  Agricultural  School  at  Jaffa,  Mikveh 
Israel. 

The  Hope  of  Israel  is  hardly  to  be  found  in  South 
America.  My  visit  did  not  elate  me,  and  after  making 
every  allowance  for  the  personal  equation,  and  for  the 
unfortunate  damage  to  the  crops  which  I  witnessed, 
not  to  mention  the  personal  torment  inflicted  by  the 
mosquitoes  and  flies,  which  positively  swarmed  over 
the  damp  soil,  my  prevailing  sentiment  was  one  of  dis- 
appointment tempered  by  the  interest  excited  by  the 
strange  birds — owls  and  cardinals,  bustards  and 
scissors  birds — one  saw,  and  by  the  snakes  which  were 
not  seen  but  rumored.  Perhaps  Mauricio  would  have 
been  more  encouraging. 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  KOWNO  RAV 

Kowno  —  An      Illegal      Assembly  —  Table      Talk  —  Specter's 
Responsa  —  His   Broad-mindedness. 

KOWNO 

ONE  hot  Thursday  morning  in  August,  1889,  I 
arrived  at  the  ancient  city  of  the  Teutonic  Knights 
after  a  short  but  wretched  night  in  the  train.  The 
place  seemed  very  strange  at  that  early  hour — clean, 
but  sleepy,  and  very  few  people  about — and  those  had 
no  German.  The  two  Russian  (  ?)  words  that  consti- 
tuted my  vocabulary  had  to  be  constantly  brought  into 
requisition  to  enable  me  to  make  for  my  destination. 
There  were  no  cabs  to  be  seen,  and  no  Jews.  For  the 
Droshky  it  was  too  early,  and  the  Jews  were  all  in 
synagogue,  I  suppose.  It  was  the  time  of  the  morning 
prayer,  and  there  are  twenty-five  synagogues  in  Kowno 
without  counting  Minyanim,  and  though  more  than 
half  the  inhabitants  are  Jews,  the  whole  population  is 
only  about  fifty  thousand.  But  every  Christian  that  I 
met,  Greek  or  Roman,  seemed  to  recognize  the  words, 
"  Staro  Rabben,"  for  he  pointed  onward  to  the  west. 
And  so  I  walked  on  and  on  for  about  an  hour,  right 
through  the  city,  on  to  the  straight  high  road  leading 
countryward.  The  air  was  busy  with  the  hum  of 
bees,  the  roadside  gay  with  flowers.  The  country-folk 
were  trooping  cheerfully  into  town,  and  the  suburban 
houses  looked  comfortable  and  prosperous.  Anything 
less  like  one's  anticipation  of  a  Russian  environment, 
or,  indeed,  one's  experience  at  Warsaw  or  Brest  or 


239 

Wilna,  could  hardly  be  imagined.  But  then  Kowno  is 
much  nearer  to  Konigsberg  than  it  is  to  the  Russian 
capital. 

AN  ILLEGAL  ASSEMBLY 

And  yet  it  was  not  many  minutes  before  I  realized 
that  I  was  in  Russia  after  all.  About  seven  o'clock  I 
reached  a  modest-looking  sort  of  farmhouse,  the  sum- 
mer quarters  of  the  Kowno  Rav.  To  my  inquiry  for 
him,  a  distinctly  Jewish-looking  servant  girl  pointed  to 
an  outhouse  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  and  told  me 
in  fairly  intelligible  Yiddish,  the  Rav  was  at  prayers 
there.  I  crossed  the  road  and  tried  to  open  the  door 
of  the  shanty,  but  it  was  barred  and  bolted.  I  knocked 
and  at  last  the  door  was  cautiously  opened  just  wide 
enough  to  enable  one  of  our  co-religionists  to  project 
a  timid  head.  Who  was  I  ?  Where  did  I  come  from  ? 
What  did  I  want?  I  explained  that  I  was  a  Jew  and 
wanted  to  join  the  Minyan.  Somewhat  hesitatingly,  I 
was  admitted,  but,  once  inside,  I  had  no  ground  to 
complain  of  suspicion  or  unfriendliness.  I  had  my 
Tephillin  with  me  and  was  called  up  "  Cohen."  The 
room  was  bare  of  furniture — a  table  and  a  little  Ark 
and  one  chair,  in  which  sat  a  grizzled  octogenarian 
with  full  face  and  piercing  eyes.  After  service  I  in- 
troduced myself  to  him,  and  asked  why  there  had  been 
so  much  unwillingness  to  admit  me.  "  O,"  said  he, 
"  we  are  in  Goluth  and  it  is  illegal  to  hold  Minyan  out 
of  town.  Even  you,  for  merely  joining  it,  have  made 
yourself  liable  to  a  fine  of  one  hundred  roubles !  We 
thought  you  were  the  police,  but  as  you  are  an  English- 
man, and  the  son  of  an  honored  friend,  come  and  have 
breakfast  with  me." 


240 


TABLE  TALK 

During  breakfast,  and  for  some  hour  or  two  after, 
he  talked  much  and  despondently  of  Jewish  disabilities 
in  Russia,  and  contrasted  his  country's  persecution 
with  the  liberty  we  enjoy  in  England.  To  him  the 
streets  of  London  were  almost  as  familiar  as  the  paths 
of  his  own  Nahardea,  although,  but  for  one  memo- 
rable journey  to  meet  Montefiore  on  his  mission  to 
Czar  Nicholas,  he  has  hardly  moved  out  of  Kowno 
since  he  left  his  first  Rabbinate  in  Novoradok.  He 
was  in  constant  correspondence  with  several  London 
friends,  was  intimately  acquainted  with  the  affairs  of 
Shechita  there,  and  familiar  with  all  the  sectarian 
politics  of  Whitechapel.  He  was  a  staunch  ally  of  our 
ecclesiastical  authorities  as  lawfully  constituted,  and 
deprecated  and  denounced  the  mischief-making  and 
turbulence  of  "  ungrateful  "  countrymen  of  his  own, 
who  caused  strife  and  discord  in  the  land  of  their 
adoption. 

Of  himself  he  talked  little  and  of  affairs  so  diplo- 
matically and  sensibly  that,  though  evidently  no  longer 
in  his  prime,  he  thoroughly  justified  his  great  reputa- 
tation.  And  his  reputation  was  unmistakably  great — 
at  Paris  and  at  Berlin,  at  London  and  at  Jerusalem, 
as  much  as  at  Wilna  itself,  the  Kehilla  of  his  son — 
appropriately  styled  "  Rabbinowitz,"  the  "  Rabbi's 
Son."  All  along  the  Russo-Polish  railway  line  I  had 
heard  of  him  and  his  goodness.  Not  the  least  of  his 
admirers  was  a  New  Woman  of  Riga,  who  wrote  Ger- 
man novels  and  sketches  and  articles,  and  who  was 
often  the  literary  mouthpiece  of  her  persecuted 
brothers  and  sisters.  She  died  a  couple  of  years  ago, 
poor  thing,  or  I  had  not  dared  say  so  much. 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  KOWNO  RAV          241 

SPECTOR'S  RESPONSA 

A  few  months  later  and  Rabbi  Isaac  Elkan  Spector 
was  dead.  He  was  mourned  as  a  very  Prince  in 
Israel.  The  loss  can  never  be  quite  made  good,  for  the 
position  he  held  was  unique.  It  was  due  not  so  much  to 
the  authority  he  compelled  as  an  unrivalled  Talmudist, 
as  to  the  complete  confidence  he  enjoyed  for  tact  and 
unselfish  singleness  of  purpose.  He  leaves  us  a  for- 
midable array  of  literature,  sufficient  to  command  the 
respect  of  even  so  doughty  a  bibliographer  as  Stein- 
schneider.  His  three  most  important  works  are  col- 
lections of  Responsa,  for  he  was  probably  the  most 
consulted  of  modern  Rabbis. 

One  of  his  Responsa  will  illustrate  the  continuity  of 
Jewish  thought  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  and  right 
through  the  altered  conditions  induced  by  scientific  dis- 
coveries. It  is  an  examination  into  the  question  of  the 
relative  sanctity  of  the  proof  sheet,  as  to  whether  He- 
brew proof  sheets  may  be  destroyed,  or  should  be  pre- 
served in  common  with  all  that  is  written  in  the  sacred 
language  for  a  sacred  purpose.  The  Rabbi  decides 
that  they  are  in  their  very  nature  ephemeral,  and  full 
of  faults,  and  that  it  is  a  mercy  to  destroy  them.  Can 
a  question  appear  more  trivial?  And  yet  it  is  due  to 
our  loving  regard  for  such  trifles  that  the  whole 
literary  world  is  justified  in  being  on  the  qui  vive  for 
some  fresh  lucky  discovery  that  we  may  owe  to  re- 
search, in  some  Genizah  or  synagogue  cache. 

His  BROAD-MINDEDNESS 

Although  himself  one  of  the  most  pious  men  in 
Russia,  the  Rabbi  was  what  is  known  as  a  S'pn  toward 


242  JEWS  IN  MANY  LANDS 

others.  He  judged  all  men  charitably,  and  ever  strove 
to  make  the  thorny  path  of  his  religion  a  little  broader, 
a  little  easier.  And  he  could  afford  to  do  this,  for  no 
Pharisee  of  them  all  had  ever  ventured  to  charge  him 
with  laxity.  He  was  Hillel  to  the  Shammai  of  his 
Litvak  colleagues.  Especially  was  this  so  in  the  case 
of  nuuy,  women  whose  husbands  had  disappeared, 
and  whom  the  letter  of  the  law  precluded  from  marry- 
ing again.  For  these  he  ever  sought  to  find  a  in'n  and 
to  accept  as  proof  of  widowhood  what  was  only  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  of  a  stronger  kind.  Thus,  in  one 
of  the  Responsa  in  prw  }'jr  (vol.  I.  II,  31)  he  cites 
the  case  of  a  poor  woman  whose  husband  had  been  lost 
in  England's  huge  metropolis.  But  a  body  had  been 
found  in  the  Thames,  and  the  police  photograph  of  the 
corpse  had  been  identified  by  the  Beth  Din  here  as 
that  of  the  man  whose  photograph  the  wife-widow 
produced  to  them.  The  Kowno  Rav  thought  this 
quite  enough,  but  I  can  remember  my  dear  teacher, 
the  late  Rabbi  Jacob  Reinowitz,  himself  a  member 
of  the  Beth  Din,  telling  me  of  it  with  just  the  slightest 
shadow  of  a  shade  of  shocked  disapproval.  I  fancy 
this  was  the  very  case,  but  among  the  Responsa  there 
are  several  others  of  a  similar  nature  referable  to  Lon- 
don. It  is  not  so  easy  to  identify  them,  as  it  was  to 
identify  the  "  found  dead,"  for  the  author,  with  char- 
acteristic modesty,  suppresses  all  names  of  places  and 
persons,  and  eliminates  from  his  report  all  but  the 
facts  and  the  argument.  Throughout  orthodox  Jewry 
he  was  consulted  as  the  highest  authority  on  Din, 
his  certificate  of  competency  was  eagerly  sought 
by  Rabbinatscandidatcn,  and  his  imprimatur  dearly 
prized  by  the  Hebrew  publisher.  His  Haskama  fre- 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  KOWNO  RAV         243 

quently  prefaces  modern  Rabbinic  books,  even  where 
it  merely  contains  the  na'ive  business  statement  that  he 
has  paid  for  them  in  advance :  JIHJD  nonp  ^m  'nnji 

Specter's  great  reputation  was  in  no  sense  derived 
from  official  position  or  external  glories.  Of  the  para- 
phernalia of  the  ecclesiastical  dignitary  he  possessed 
none,  unless,  perhaps,  as  such  you  can  regard  his 
Meshareth  and  Sopher  and  the  half-score  of  unpaid 
Minyan  men,  who  trudged  three  miles  every  morning 
along  the  flat  and  dusty  high-road,  in  order  to  pray 
with  him.  Even  in  Kowno  the  only  officially  recognized 
Rabbi  was  the  Kronrabbiner.  Still,  the  Russian  Gov- 
ernment, on  matters  affecting  its  Jewish  subjects  as  a 
class,  treated  with  him  rather  than  its  own  functionary. 
It  was  wise  enough  to  recognize  the  fact  that  Rabbi 
Isaac  was  a  representative  man  although  not  an  offi- 
cial. And  in  this  it  resembled  a  wide-awake  Bishop, 
who  preferred  to  deal  with  an  energetic  Non-conformist 
Minister  in  a  parish  rather  than  with  its  pompous 
Rector.  If  even  Russia's  unfriendly  Government 
missed  him  when  he  died,  what  shall  we  say  who  are 
of  his  own  people,  and  who  mourn  in  him  one  who 
was  known  throughout  Israel  as  nSun  'J3  hi  Sjy  pn — 
"  the  Teacher  of  all  Sons  of  the  Captivity  ?  " 


Index 


Aaron  ben  Asher,  Codex  of,  de- 
scribed, 162-3;  and  the  Ixar 
Pentateuch,  221. 

Abarbanel,    alluded   to,   21,   22. 

Abbas,   Shah,   alluded  to,  222. 

Abodah,  the,  how  observed  at  Salo- 
nica,  142. 

Abraham,  patriarch,  venerated  by 
Mohammedans,  104. 

Abraham  ha-Ger,  manuscript  work 
by,  145. 

Absalom,   the  Tomb  of,  43-4,  90. 

Abunaji,   sheikh   and  merchant,  84. 

"Achalcig  Jews,"  in  Petrovsk,  175; 
in  Baku,  181-2. 

Acre,   Jewish   population  of,   111. 

Adam,   legend   about,    106. 

Adana,  one  Jew  at,  158. 

Adler,  Elkan  Nathan,  journeys  of, 
11,  13  (footnote). 

Adrianople,    conflagrations   in,    143. 

Adullam,  Cave  of,  101. 

JEsop,  alluded  to,  112. 

Afghans,  the,  supposed  descendants 
of  the  Ten  Tribes,  221. 

Agricultural  Colonies,  the,  in  Pales- 
tine, send  pupils  to  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  66; 
send  patients  to  Jerusalem,  76; 
growth  of,  hindered,  92-3;  popu- 
lation of,  111,  124;  journey  to, 
120-1;  description  of,  121-6;  pu- 
pils of  the  Technical  School  in 
Jerusalem  sent  to,  136. 

Agricultural  School  at  Ahlom,  al- 
luded to,  231. 

Agricultural  School  of  the  Alliance 
IxrnfMIe  Tfniverxelle,  at  Jaffa, 
125-6;  named  "  The  Hope  of 
Israel,"  126,  237. 

Ahlem,  Agricultural  School  at,  al- 
luded to,  231. 

Ain   MOsa,   identified,   34. 

Akiba,   Rabbi,  alluded  to,  82. 

Alchalel,   M.,  at  Magnesia,  154. 

Alfbarisi,  in  Aleppo,  16.r>. 

Alenu,  the,  how  said  at  Salonica, 
142. 

Aleppo,  place  of,  in  Jewish  law, 
159;  route  to,  150-60;  Import- 
ance of,  160;  ghetto  of,  1BO-4; 
synagogue  of,  160-2;  manu- 
scripts at,  162-6.  167-8;  Jews  of, 
in  relation  with  Malabnr,  164; 
mrdispval  history  of,  165-6; 
Jewesses  of,  166;  schools  of,  166- 
7;  printing  press  at,  166-7. 


Aleppo  Codex.  See  Aaron  ben 
Asher. 

Alexander  II,  of  Russia,  and  the 
socialist  agitation,  227. 

Alexander  the  Great,  and  Merv,  213. 

Alexandretta  (Scanderun),  Jews  at, 
158,  160. 

Alexandria,  the  Jews  of,  famous, 
16;  synagogue  at,  17;  place  of, 
in  Jewish  law,  159. 

Alfred  the  Great,  alluded  to,  23. 

Algiers,  Jewish  immigration  into, 
170. 

Allatini,  Carlo,  grand  rabbi  of 
Salonica,  143. 

Allatini,   Mos<S   alluded  to,   147. 

Alliance  Israelite  Universelle, 
the,  founded,  26;  subventions  a 
school  in  Jerusalem,  60;  lan- 
guages taught  in  schools  of,  62; 
activity  of,  needed  in  Hebron, 
110;  agricultural  school  of,  at 
Jaffa,  139;  to  establish  schools 
at  Rhodes,  156;  report  on  the 
Falashas  at  a  meeting  of,  164; 
agent  of,  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
236;  the  schools  of,  in  Kgvpt, 
27;  at  Jaffa,  139;  at  Salonica, 
146;  at  Smyrna,  151,  152;  at 
Magnesia,  153-4;  at  Aleppo,  166; 
at  Tetuan,  169-72;  at  Teheran, 
191. 

Alps,  the,  alluded  to,  40. 

Amado,  Hali  Judah,  books  collected 
by,  155-6. 

America,   Kolel,  origin  of,  58. 

Amsterdam,  Jews  of,  and  a  hospi- 
tal at  Jerusalem,  77. 

Amu  Daria  (Oxus),  the,  bridge 
over,  201,  204;  crossing  of,  215; 
width  of,  216. 

Amxalek,  Mr.,  British  Vice-Consul 
at  Jaffa,  128. 

Andromeda,   alluded   to,   37. 

Anenkoff,  General,  and  the  Trans- 
caspian  Railway,  197,  205. 

"  Anglfchanka,"  Russinn  epithet  for 
Queen  Victoria,  216. 

Anglo-Jewish  Association,  the,  sub- 
ventions a  school  in  Jerusalem, 
60,  62;  activity  of,  needed  in 
Hebron,  110;  subventions  a 
school  at  Tetuan,  172;  and  the 
Tnlinud  Torah  at  Salonica,  143-4; 
report  of,  on  educational  needs 
of  Persian  Jews,  190-1. 

Annan,  ruins  of,  211-2. 


246 


INDEX 


Apennines,  the,  alluded  to,  40. 

Arabia  Petrrea,  alluded  to,  34. 

Arabic,  studied  in  Cairo,  27;  at  the 
Technical  School  in  Jerusalem, 
61;  at  the  Orphan  Asylum  in 
Jerusalem,  07. 

Aram  Zobah.     Sec  Aleppo. 

Arbuza  water-melon,  in  Turkestan, 
206. 

Arditi,  Raphael  Samuel,  Respon- 
sum  by,  147. 

Argentine,  why  preferable  to  Pales- 
tine, 92;  as  a  field  for  coloni- 
zation, 158;  as  an  agricultural 
country,  234;  Jews  in,  23(5-7. 
See  also  Ilirsch  Colonies  in  Ar- 
gentine, the;  South  America; 
Buenos  Ayres;  Moisesville,  etc. 

Ari<5,  M.,  director  of  schools  at 
Smyrna,  151. 

Armenian,  spoken  by  Jews  of  Baku, 
181. 

Armenians,  the,  at  Bethlehem,  98; 
considered  aliens  in  the  Trans- 
caspian,  202. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  alluded  to,  41. 

"Arragon"  synagogue  at  Salonica, 
141. 

ArtAs,  description  of,  102. 

Artisans,   Jewish,   at   Jerusalem,   88. 

Aschabad,  alluded  to,  198,  200;  dis- 
ease prevalent  in,  203;  described, 
210-1;  Yadidin  at,  214. 

Aschurowa,  owner  of  the  "  Nena," 
182. 

Asher,  A.,  on  the  scroll  of  the 
law  at  Fostat,  29;  and  Rachel's 
Tomb,  95-6;  alluded  to,  190. 

Asher  Rofe,  synagogue  of,  at  Tehe- 
ran, 190. 

Ashkenaz  synagogue,  at  Salonica, 
142. 

Ashkenazi,  Noah  Cohen,  inscription 
commemorating,  145. 

Ashkenazim,  the,  at  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  60;  in  Je- 
rusalem, 61 ;  and  the  Chalukah, 
86-7;  as  pilgrims  to  Jerusalem, 
91;  in  Hebron,  110;  in  Jaffa, 
128. 

Asia  Minor,  Yiddish  not  spoken  in, 
48;  pupils  from,  at  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  61 ; 
languages  taught  in  schools  of, 
62;  favorable  for  colonization, 
158.  ' 

Astara,   alluded  to,  181,   183. 

Ateshga,  Parsee  Temple,  179. 

Athia,  Isaac,   Aleppo  Jew,  166. 

Atlas,  the,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem, 
46. 

Atonement,  the  Day  of,  in  Cairo, 
16-20;  among  the  Karaites,  24; 
services  at  Salonica  on,  140,  143; 
lights  for,  at  Salonica,  142; 


siesta  on,  at  Salonica,  142-3;  at 
Aschabad,  211. 

Aits  mi'incr  Jiiblinthek,  by  Berli- 
ner, quoted,  164. 

Auzolle,  the,  Jewish  citizens  of 
Salonica,  143. 

"Avrahamovsky  Boulevar,"  place  in 
Samarkand,  227. 

Azariah,   Aleppo  Jew,   165. 

Aziz  Ulla,  Teheran  Jew,  195. 


Bab,  Arturo,  director  of  Moisesville, 

231. 

Bflb-el-WAdy,   alluded  to,  40. 
Baba  Khanum,  queen  of  Samarkand, 

225. 

Baba  Meziah,   an  edition  of,  145. 
Babi    Mehemet    Khan,    conqueror    of 

Shah  Abbas,  222. 
Babis,    the,    permitted    to    settle    in 

Russian    territory    in    Asia,    215. 
"  Babylon,"  name  of  Old  Cairo,  28. 
Bada  Dur,  ruins  of,  212. 
Bagdad,   alluded  to,   160,   173. 
Bahadur    Khan,    taxes    paid    to,    by 

Bokhara  Jews,  222. 
Bahr  el  Lot,  alluded  to,  117. 
Bak,    Nissim,    rabbi,    synagogue    in 

memory  of,   85. 
Baku,    port,    and    railway   terminus, 

174;   importance  and  history  of, 

179-80;   population  of,   180;  Jews 

of,   181-2;   alluded  to,  200. 
Bakuha,  Jewish  community  in,  181. 
Balkh,  Jews  removed  to,  by  Genghis 

Khan,  222. 
Balkhash,    Lake,    railway    junction, 

227. 

Bami,  Turcomans  at,  209. 
Barcelona,   Massoretic  Bible  written 

at,  154. 
"  Bariatinsky,"    name    of    a    vessel, 

212. 

BAsAtin,    cemetery  at,   23,   28. 
Batoum,  alluded  to,  200. 
Bechor,  Levi,  astrologer  at  Smvrna, 

152. 

Bedouins,  meeting  with,  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Judah,  100. 
Behar,    Fortunee,    directress    of    the 

Evelina    do    Rothschild    School, 

138. 
Behar,    Nissim,    head    of   the   Lionel 

de  Rothschild  Technical  School, 

49,   59;   wife  of,  51,  65;  relation 

of,    to   rabbis   of  Jerusalem,   66; 

alluded  to,  79,  84;  influence  of, 

93. 

Beilan,  pass  of,  described,  160. 
Belgrade,    pupils    of    the    Technical 

School  in  Jerusalem  sent  to,  136. 
Ben    Simul,    Mdlle.,    directress   of   a 

school  at  Tetuan,  170. 
Beni  Mikra.    Sec  Karaites. 


INDEX 


247 


Benjamin,  guardian  of  Rachel's 
Tomb,  95. 

Benjamin  of  Tudela,  traveller,  in 
Fostat,  28;  on  the  Druses,  47; 
in  Hebron,  110;  in  Aleppo,  165. 

Benjamin  Siman-Tob,  Hebrew-Per- 
sian poet,  223. 

Bent  Anat,  daughter  of  Pharaoh, 
alluded  to,  15. 

Berachah,  Isaac,  Aleppo  Jew,  166. 

Berber,   Jews  in,  26. 

Berlin,  alluded  to,  200. 

Berliner,  A.,  quoted,  145,  164. 

Berschawsky,  sculptor,  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 63. 

Bethany,  alluded  to,  113. 

Bethlehem,  alluded  to,  89;  descrip- 
tion of,  98. 

Bethlehem  Gate,  the,  in  Jerusalem, 
81. 

"  Bothnia's  Memorial,"  colony  in 
Palestine,  124. 

Beyrout,  alluded  to,  105. 

Bible,  the,  manuscripts  of,  157,  221. 
See  alsto  Massoretic  Bible,  or 
parts  of  the  Bible,  manuscripts 
of;  Hagiographa,  the;  Penta- 
teuch, the;  Prophets,  the. 

Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Hebrew-Per- 
sian manuscripts  in,  173. 

Bikkur  Cholim,  hospital  in  Jeru- 
salem, 72,  7fi,  77. 

Black  Soa,   the,   alluded   to,   173. 

Blooh,  Alphonse,  director  of  Rishon 
le-Zion,  122,  123,  125. 

Blomfield,  and  Russian  passport  reg- 
ulations, 198-9. 

Blumenthal  School,  the,  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 67. 

Boas,  Tobias,  alluded  to,  164. 

Bodleian  library,  the,  alluded  to, 
165. 

Bohnonberger's  Inn,  at  Ramleh,  121. 

Bokhara,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem,  45 
(footnote),  46,  219;  synagogue 
of,  161,  220;  alluded 'to,  196, 
198;  manuscripts  in,  197;  trade 
of,  202;  disease  prevalent  in, 
203;  station  for,  217;  described, 
218-9;  Jews  of,  219-20,  221-2; 
early  prints  and  manuscripts  at, 
221;  liturgy  of,  222;  sights  of, 
223-4;  Jews  of,  supposed  de- 
scendants of  the  Ten  Tribes, 
221 ;  compared  with  Samarkand, 
224,  226;  products  of,  228. 

Bondarow,  Abraham,  alluded  to,  236. 

"  Bonvallot,"   alluded  to,  199. 

Bootmaking,  taught  in  Jerusalem, 
63. 

Boulak,   museum  at,   15,  34. 

Bniinar  Bashi,  Jewish  interest  of, 
155-6. 

Brazil,  no  Jews  in.  236. 

Brest-Lit. >vsk,  Oiikin  rabbi  at,  56; 
alluded  to,  238. 


British  Museum,  the,  alluded  to, 
156;  Hebrew-Persian  manu- 
scripts in,  173. 

Britzker  Rav.  Sec  Diskin,  Judah 
Leib. 

Brugsch,  alluded  to,  34. 

Buenos  Ayres,  alluded  to,  230;  Jews 
of,  236;  office  of  the  Jewish  Col- 
onization Association  in,  237. 

Burdett-Ooutts,  Lady,  and  the 
water  supply  of  Jerusalem,  72. 

Cabul  grape,  cultivated  in  Turkes- 
tan, 228. 

Cairo,  interesting  to  Jews,  16;  the 
holidays  in,  16-20;  private  syna- 
gogues in,  17-20;  connection  of 
Maimonides  with,  21-2;  Karaites 
in,  23-5;  Rnbbanite  Jews  in,  25- 
6;  hospital  in,  26;  boxes  at  the 
theatres  of,  140. 

Cairo,   Old.     Sfe,  Fostat. 

Calba  Sabbua,  burial  place  of,  82. 

Calcutta,  alluded  to,  173. 

Cambridge,  alluded  to,  86. 

Capri,   alluded  to,  37. 

Castor-oil  tree,  and  Jonah's  gourd, 
123. 

Catena,  the,  on  the  Prophets,  156. 

Cattaui,    MoTse,    residence   of,   20. 

Cattauis,  the,  private  synagogue  of, 
20;  public  spirit  of,  20;  school 
of,  27. 

Cattegno,  M.,  on  colonization  of 
Mersina,  158. 

Caucasus,  the,  Jews  of,  in  Jeru- 
salem, 46;  synagogue  of  Jews 
from,  at  Jerusalem,  85;  Jewish 
pilgrims  to  Jerusalem  from,  91 ; 
a  meeting  ground  of  nations, 
177;  Jewisli  communities  in,  181. 

Cazt^s,  M.,  director  of  schools  in 
Teheran,  191;  of  the  Jewish  Col- 
onization Association  in  Buenos 
Ayres,  237. 

Cemetery,  at  BnsiUin,  23,  28. 

Central   Asia,   wild  animals  in,  212; 

resources  of,  229. 

Rec,  filxn  Transeaspian,   the;   Tur- 
kestan. 

"Cesarewitch,"  Russian  vessel,  38. 

Chagnot,  Abbi',  on  the  Aleppo  syna- 
gogue, 100,  161. 

Chaini  Cohen  ben  Abraham,  Aleppo 
nntlior,  165. 

Chalonei,  Abraham,  chief  rabbi  of 
Aleppo,  166. 

Chalukiih,  the,  origin  of,  58;  not 
altogether  pernicious,  59;  de- 
scribed, 86-8. 

Chardjuy,  town  on  the  Oxus,  215. 

Chassidim,  the,  in  Jerusalem,  cus- 
toms of,  50-5;  temperament  of, 
56. 

Chassidish  dunce,  described,  50-2. 

Chili,   Jews  in,  236. 


248 


INDEX 


Christian  pupils  in  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  65. 

"  City  of  Friendship."   Sec  Hebron. 

"  City  of  the  Four  Patriarchs."  Sec 
Hebron. 

Clarence,   Duke  of,  alluded  to,  137. 

Cobo,  rabbi  at  Salonica,  alluded  to, 
147. 

Cochin  China,  and  Syrian  Jews,  164. 

Codex  of  Aaron  ben  Asher.  See 
Aaron  ben  Asher,  Codex  of. 

Cohan,  Miquel,  administrator  of 
Moisesville,  231. 

Cohen,  Mr.,  teacher  at  the  German 
Orphan  Asylum,  Jerusalem,  66. 

Cohen,  Francis,  Chassidish  music 
by,  51,  52. 

Cohen,   Hirsch,  restaurant  of,  127. 

Cohen,  Menahem,  treasurer  of  the 
Misgab  Ladach,  Jerusalem,  79. 

Colonies.  See  Agricultural  Colonies 
in  Palestine,  the;  Hirsch  Col- 
onies in  Argentine,  the. 

Colophons,  in  Aleppo  manuscripts, 
162-3,  164. 

Compaunie  Franc.aise  des  chem- 
ins  de  fer  de  Santa  Fe,  rail- 
way in  Argentine,  230. 

Conder,  Major,  alluded  to,  137. 

Confessions,  the,  at  Salonica,  142. 

Constantinople,  United  States  am- 
bassador at,  alluded  to,  42,  200; 
conflagrations  in,  143. 

Contemporary  Review,  the,  al- 
luded to,  124. 

Cook,    guide   in   Palestine,  38,   39. 

Cordova,   alluded  to,   58. 

"  Corner  Stone,  The,"  colony  in 
Palestine,  124. 

Cotton,  transportation  of,  difficult 
in  Turkestan,  201;  production 
of,  in  Turkestan,  228. 

Cracow,  alluded  to,  200. 

Cremieux,  A.,  venerated  in  the 
East,  26. 

Crimea,  the,  Karaites  from,  pil- 
grims at  Jerusalem,  85. 

Crimean  War,  the,  alluded  to,  49. 

Cross,    the,   origin   of,    16. 

Curzon,  work  by,  199;  on  Geok 
Tepe,  210. 

Cyprus,  pupils  from  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem  sent  to, 
136. 

Daghestan,    Jews   of,    in    Jerusalem, 

46. 

Damascus,  alluded  to,  159,  160. 
Damascus   Gate,    the,    in   Jerusalem, 

70,   83. 

Dancing  Mass,  at  Seville,  54. 
Daniel,    Aleppo   poet,    165. 
Daniel,  the  tomb  of,  in  Samarkand, 

224. 
d'Arbela,    Israel    Gregory,    manager 

of    the    Rothschild    Hospital    in 


Jerusalem,  73-5,  84,  127;  decor- 
ated, 74;  in  Zanzibar,  74;  aa 
a  colonist,  74-5;  at  Rishon  le- 
Zion  with  the  author,  120-1. 

Dardashti,  name  of  Teheran  Jew, 
188. 

Dardashti,  Eliahu,  Teheran  Jew, 
195. 

David,  king,  sepulchre  of,  81-2; 
scene  of  wanderings  of,  99-101. 

David  ben  Abraham,  Hebrew-Per- 
sian poet,  223. 

David,   Joseph,    Resnonsum  by,   146. 

Dead  Sea,  the,  journey  to, '  111-6; 
description  of,  116;  bath  in,  116- 
7;  extent  of,  1W. 

De  Quincey,    quoted,   97. 

Derbend,  described  by  Tschorni, 
179;  Jewish  community  in,  181. 

Dervishes,  Howling,  ceremony  per- 
formed by,  84. 

Dinim,  taught  in  the  schools  of 
Tetuan,  170. 

Diskin,  Judah  Leib,  visit  to,  50-3; 
biography  of,  55-9;  peaceable 
nature  of,  57;  wife  of,  57;  and 
the  Kolelim,  58-9. 

Divorce,  conditional,  in  Jewish  law, 
159. 

Dobson,  author,   alluded  to,   199. 

"  Dome  of  the  Rock,"  in  Jerusalem, 
77. 

Donmf-,   the,   at  Salonica,  146-7. 

Drawing,   taught  in  Jerusalem,  63. 

Dreyfus  affair,   the,   alluded  to,  151. 

Druses,  the,  language  and  history 
of,  46-7. 

Dschebel,  junction  of  railway  lines, 
204. 

Duchan,  the,  priestly  blessing,  in 
Cairo,  19;  in  Jerusalem,  59;  in 
Salonica,  142. 

Duff,  Grant,  on  "  Jacob's  Memo- 
rial," 124. 

Dufferin,  Lord,  alluded  to,  20. 

Dung  Gate,  the,  in  Jerusalem,  70. 

Durand,  Mortimer,  British  minister 
to  Persia,  alluded  to,  192. 

Dushak,  interest  of,  212-3. 

D'ynja,  melon  in  Turkestan,  206. 

Ebn  Haukal,  Arab  geographer,  ref- 
erence to,  159. 

Ecole  Cattaui,   school   in   Cairo,   27. 

Ecole  Payante,  school   in  Cairo,  27. 

Eczema,   endemic   in   Asehabad,  203. 

Edom,  connected  with  Adam,  106. 

Egypt,  traces  of  Israel  in,  15;  Yid- 
dish not  spoken  in,  48;  pupils 
from,  at  the  Technical  School 
in  Jerusalem,  61 ;  receives  pu- 
pils from  the  Technical  School 
in  Jerusalem,  66,  136;  Karaites 
from,  pilgrims  at  Jerusalem,  85; 
Jewish  immigration  to,  170. 


INDEX 


249 


"  Ekron."  See  "  Bethuia's  Memo- 
rial." 

Elazar  ha-Babli,  Bagdad  poet,  man- 
uscript by,  168. 

Eleazar  ha-Kohen,  Hebrew-Persian 
poet,  223. 

Eleazer,  Aleppo  physician,  165. 

Eliahu,  Teheran  Jew,  195. 

Elim,  identified,  34. 

Elijah,  prophet,  and  the  Fostat 
synagogue,  28;  alluded  to,  118; 
connected  with  the  Aleppo  syna- 
gogue, 162. 

Elisha,  Hebrew-Persian  poet,  223. 

Elisha,  prophet,   alluded  to,  114. 

Emm  Bey,  alluded  to,  74. 

Emmaus,  identified,  40. 

English,  in  Cairo,  25,  27;  at  the 
Technical  School  in  Jerusalem, 
61-2;  at  the  Orphan  Asylum  in 
Jerusalem,  67;  taught  at  Smyr- 
na, 151;  in  Tetuan,  172. 

Entre  Rios,  colonies  of,  unsuccess- 
ful, 233. 

Enzeli,  alluded  to,  182,  183. 

Esau,  connected   with   Adam,   106. 

Esh  Shamyan.  See  Fostat,  syna- 
gogue at. 

Eucalyptus  trees,  in  the  Palestine 
colonies,  123;  planted  in  Moises- 
ville,  232. 

Eupatoria,  alluded  to,  200. 

Evelina  de  Rothschild  School,  the, 
number  of  pupils  in,  68;  de- 
scribed, 138-9. 

"  Excelsior,"  colony  in  Palestine, 
124. 

Exodus,  the,  places  connected  with, 
33-4. 

Ezbektya,  park  in  Cairo,  33. 

Ezra,  and  the  Fostat  synagogue,  28, 
29. 

Ezra  Cohen  Zedek,  synagogue  of, 
184-5. 

"  Fakima  Modianos,"  Day  of  Atone- 
ment lights  at,  142. 

Falashas,   the,   mission  to,  164. 

Farissol,  Abraham,  work  by,  al- 
luded to,  164. 

Fernandez,  the,  Jewish  citizens  of 
Salonica,  143. 

Fever,  prevalent  in  Central  Asia, 
203. 

Fez,   Jews  of,   in  Jerusalem,  46. 

Firma  FirmAn,   Persian  official,  192. 

First  Temple,  the,  architecture  of, 
44;  stones  for,  70. 

Fleur-de-lis,  emblem  of  Judah,  123. 

Forestry   in  Turkestan,  206. 

Fostat,  Maimonides'  residence  in, 
21 ;  synagogue  at,  28-31 ;  famous 
scroll  of  the  law  at,  2!);  Genizah 
at,  31,  103. 

France,  Moses,  rabbi  of  Rhodes,  157. 


Franchetti,  M.,  engineer  in  Pales- 
tine, 93. 

Frank  Mountain,   alluded  to,   98. 

Frankfort,  Jews  of,  and  a  hospital 
at  Jerusalem,  77. 

Frankl,  Ludwig  A.,  on  the  Cave  of 
Machpelah,  108-9. 

Franko,  Rachmin,  Sephardi  Cha- 
cham  in  Hebron,  110. 

French,  spoken  in  Cairo,  25;  at  the 
Technical  School  in  Jerusalem, 
61;  the  lingua  franca  in  the 
East,  62;  in  Smyrna,  151;  in 
Tetuan,  172. 

Fukushima,  Y.,  quoted,  183. 

Gadard,   colony  in   Palestine,   124. 

Gaster,  M.,  work  by,  22. 

"  Gate  of  Hope,  The,"  colony  in 
Palestine,  124;  pupils  of  the 
Technical  School  in  Jerusalem 
sent  to,  136. 

"  Gate  of  the  Corner  Stone,  The," 
street  in  Jerusalem,  133-4. 

Gaza,  alluded  to,  93;  Jewish  popu- 
lation of,  111. 

Geneva,  the  Lake  of,  and  the  Dead 
Sea,  117. 

Genghis  Khan,  and  the  Jews,  222. 

Genizah,  the,,  at  Cairo,  31,  145;  at 
Volo,  147;  at  Aleppo,  163-4,  167; 
at  Teheran,  186-7;  at  Bokhara, 
220. 

Geok  Tepe,  military  importance  of, 
209-10. 

German,  taught  at  the  Orphan  Asy- 
lum in  Jerusalem,  67. 

German  Orphan  Asylum,  the,  at 
Jerusalem,  59,  66-7. 

Gibraltar,  Jews  of,  appeal  to  the 
rabbi  of  Tetuan,  171. 

Gihon,  the,  the  Amu  Dana,  215. 

Gilgal,   the  site  of,   118. 

Ginsburg,  Dr.,  quoted,  162. 

Goitre,   endemic  in  Khokan,  203. 

Goldsmid,   Major,  alluded  to,  80. 

Goli,  Daoud,  Teheran  Jew,  195. 

Gomorrah,  the  site  of,  117-8. 

Gordon,  Thomas,  on  schools  for 
Jews  in  Persia,  193. 

"  Gorski  Evraei,"  the,  in  Petrovsk, 
175;  synagogue  of,  175. 

Goshen,  alluded  to,  33. 

Graetz,  IL,  on  the  scroll  of  the 
law  at  Fostat,  29;  alluded  to, 
170. 

"  Great,  The,"  synagogue  at  Smyr- 
na, 151. 

Great  Synagogue,  the,  of  Teheran, 
186-7. 

Greece,  pupils  from,  at  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  136. 

Greeks,  the,  at  Bethlehem,  08. 

Grosni,  oil  discoveries  at,  174;  Jew- 
ish community  in,  181. 


250 


INDEX 


Griinbaum,  Max,  quoted,  53. 

"  Guide    of    the    Perplexed,    The," 

manuscript    copy    of,     156;     for 

whom  written,  165. 
Guebres,  the,  pilgrims  to  Baku,  179. 

Habib,  M.,  at  Magnesia,  154. 

Hadjis.    Sec  Pilgrims. 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  on  Jews,  33. 

Haftaroth,  the,  in  an  Aleppo  manu- 
script, 163. 

Hagiographa,  the,  ancient  copy  of, 
in  Magnesia,  154. 

Hai  Gagin,  head  of  a  Yeshibah  at 
Smyrna,  151. 

Haifa,  Jewish  population  of,  111. 

Hakafoth,  the,  by  the  Chassidim,  53. 

Hakim,   the,   importance  of,   190. 

Haleb.    Sec  Aleppo. 

Halevi,  Joseph,  on  the  Falashas, 
164. 

Halevi,  Kaddish,  inmate  of  the  Old 
People's  Rest  at  Jerusalem,  131. 

Hamadan,  school  proposed  in,  191; 
Jews  from,  in  Teheran,  193. 

Hamadani  Yazdi,  name  of  Teheran 
Jew,  188. 

Har  Behar  Eliashar,  Chacham  Bashi 
at  Jerusalem,  79. 

Haramesh   Sherif,   in  Jerusalem,   77. 

Haroun  Alraschid,   alluded  to,  23. 

Hauran,   the,  Druses  in,   46. 

Hcbraische  Bibliographic,  by  A. 
Berliner,  quoted,  145. 

Hebrew,  studied  in  Cairo,  27;  a 
lingua  franca,  46,  177;  bill  in, 
48,  120;  at  the  Technical  School 
in  Jerusalem,  61,  62;  spoken  by 
Bokhariot  Jews,  220. 

Hebrew-Persian  literature,  character 
of,  173-4. 

Hebrew-Persian  manuscripts,  197, 
223. 

Hebron,  sends  pupils  to  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  66; 
sends  patients  to  Jerusalem,  76; 
alluded  to,  91;  journey  to,  96, 
98;  situation  of,  103,  105-6; 
names  given  to,  104,  106;  oldest 
city  in  Palestine,  104;  vener- 
ated by  Mohammedans,  104;  le- 
gend about  Jews  of,  108-9;  num- 
ber of  Jews  in,  109-10;  Nach- 
iiiankles  in,  110;  Jewish  insti- 
tutions on,  110;  prominent  Jews 
of,  110-1;  a  "  holy  city,"  111. 

Helena,  queen  of  Adiabene,  supposed 
burial  place  of,  82. 

Herodium,   ruins  of,   alluded  to,   98. 

Herrnhuter  Brethren,  Leper's  Home 
of,  in  Jerusalem,  72. 

Herzberg,  Dr.,  principal  of  the  Ger- 
man   Orphan    Asylum    in    Jeru- 
salem, 59,  66;  wife  of,  66. 
Herzen,  A.  E.,  socialist,  alluded  to, 
227. 


Hezekiah  ha-Kohen,  rabbi  of  Bok- 
hara, 219. 

Highlands,  the,  alluded  to,  40. 

Hillel,  head  of  a  Yeshibah,  at  Smyr- 
na, 151. 

Hinnom,  Valley  of,  69. 

Hirsch,  Baron  de,  reason  of,  for 
preferring  the  Argentine  to  Pal- 
estine, 91-2;  and  Salonica,  147. 

Hirsch,  Baroness,  and  the  Talmud 
Torah  at  Salonica,  143-4;  and 
Salonica,  147. 

Hirsch,  M.,  director  of  the  Agri- 
cultural School  in  Jaffa,  125;  of 
the  Jewish  Colonization  Associa- 
tion in  Buenos  Ayres,  237. 

Hirsch   Colonies    in    Argentine,    the, 
report    on,    230;    crops    in,    232; 
prospects  of,   233-6. 
See  also  Moisesville. 

"  Holy  Cities  "  of  the  Jews  in  Pal- 
estine, 111. 

Holy  Land,  the.    Sec  Palestine. 

Holy  Sepulchre,  the  Church  of  the, 
simplicity  of,  43;  cause  of  the 
Crimean  War,  98. 

"  Hope  of  Israel,  The."  See  Agri- 
cultural School  of  the  Alliance 
Israelite  Universelle  at  Jaffa. 

Horoyitz,   M.,   alluded   to,   21. 

Hospitals,  in  Cairo,  26;  in  Jeru- 
salem, 72-3,  75-8;  at  Smyrna, 
152-3. 

"  House  of  Israel,  The,"  street  in 
Jerusalem,  134. 

Howard's  Hotel,  in  Jerusalem,  39, 
40. 

Hugo,  Victor,  and  Cremicux,  26. 

"  Hundred  Gates,  A,"  street  in 
Jerusalem,  133. 

Hungarians,  the,  and  the  Chalukah, 
87. 

Hussein,  Mahomet's  grandson,  al- 
luded to,  24. 

lami,  Persian  poet,  223. 

Ibrahim  ibn  Abu  al-Khair,  Hebrew- 
Persian  poet,  223. 

Imperial  Library  of  St.  Petersburg, 
Hebrew-Persian  manuscripts  in, 
173. 

Incunabula,  145,  221. 

Influenza,  fatal  in  Turkestan,  203. 

Inguinal  worm,  endemic  in  Bok- 
hara, 203. 

"  Inheritance  of  Seven,  The,"  street 
in  Jerusalem,  134. 

Inscriptions,  in  the  Cattatii  syna- 
gogue, 20;  in  the  Fostat  syna- 
gogue, 30-31,  176;  on  the  Tomb 
of  Rachel,  96;  at  Salonica,  145; 
at  Smyrna,  140;  at  Aleppo,  160- 
1;  at  Petrovsk,  170;  at  Teheran, 
187;  at  Panama,  236. 
See  also  Colophons. 


INDEX 


"  Institution  Israelite  pour  1'In- 
struction  et  le  Travail:  Fonda- 
tion,  Lionel  de  Rothschild." 
See  Lionel  de  Rothschild  Tech- 
nical School. 

Isaac  Luria,  Kabbalist,  story  about, 
53-4. 

Isaac  Zevi,  epitaph  of,  149. 

Isfahan,  school  proposed  in,  191; 
Jews  from,  in  Teheran,  193. 

Isfahan!,  Aaron,  Teheran  Jew,  195. 

Isfahni,   name  of  Teheran  Jew,   188. 

Ismail,   Khedive,  alluded  to,  20. 

Ismailiya,   alluded  to,  48. 

Isinailiya  quarter,  in  Cairo,  alluded 
to,  18,  26,  33. 

Israel,  a  Jew  of  Aleppo,  165. 

Israel  of  Rosen,  rabbi,  synagogue  in 
memory  of,  85. 

Israel,  Moses,  Ab  Beth  Din,  of 
Rhodes,  157. 

"  Italia,"  synagogue  at  Salonica, 
141. 

Italian,    spoken    in    Cairo,   25,    27. 

Italian  Sephardim,  the,  liturgy  of, 
used  in  Cairo,  19;  in  Baku,  181; 
in  Bokhara,  222. 

Iturraspe,  Senor,  Intendente  of 
Santa  F<?,  quoted,  233. 

Ixar  Pentateuch,  at  Bokhara,  221. 

Jachim  Hananiah,   Aleppo  Jew,   165. 

"  Jacob's  Memorial,"  colony  in  Pal- 
estine, 124;  pupils  from  the 
Technical  School  in  Jerusalem 
sent  to,  136. 

Jaffa,  accessibility  of,  35;  railway 
to,  36;  harbor  of,  36-8;  journey 
from,  to  Jerusalem,  38-9,  40-1; 
alluded  to,  93;  Jewish  popula- 
tion of,  111;  agricultural  school 
at,  125-6,  237;  the  Montefiore 
Garden  near,  126;  hotels  at,  127, 
128-9;  Jewish  population  of, 
128;  as  a  Hebrew  centre,  139. 

Jaffa  Gate,  the,  of  Jerusalem,  41, 
60,  64,  73. 

Jaffa  Road,  the,  to  Jerusalem,  64, 
00,  82,  91,  121. 

Jalktit  Shimeoni,  the,  on  the  date 
of  Rachel's  death,  94. 

Jarchi,  M.,  owner  of  the  manuscript 
of  a  Massorctic  Bible,  164. 

Jehoshaphat,  the  Valley  of,  44,  69, 
90,  93. 

JeLeD.     Sec  Diskin,  .Tmlah  Leib. 

Jeremiah,  associated  with  Egypt, 
16. 

Jeremiah,   Cave  of,  83. 

Jericho,  alluded  to,  93;  Roman  road 
to,  113;  approach  to,  115. 

Jerusalem,  railway  to,  36;  Jaffa 
Road  to,  38;  location  of,  39-40; 
suburbs  of,  41-2,  4",  (footnote)i 
75;  architecture  of,  43-5;  pov- 


erty in,  45;  population  of,  45, 
56;  Jews  of  various  origin  in, 
46-7,  48,  219;  Russian  Jews  in, 
48-59;  Yiddish  spoken  in,  48, 
49;  early  rising  in,  59;  modern 
conveniences  in,  60;  Sephardim 
and  Ashkenazim  in,  61;  health 
conditions  in,  68-70;  diseases  in, 
69;  underground,  70-2;  water 
supply  of,  71-2;  hospitals  'of, 
72-3,  75-8;  lacks  punctuality, 
78-9;  King  David's  sepulchre 
in,  81-2;  catacombs  of,  82-3; 
synagogues  of,  85;  Jewish  arti- 
sans at,  88;  longevity  of  inhabi- 
tants of,  88;  described  by  Nach- 
manides,  109-10;  a  "  holy  city," 
111;  names  of  streets  in,  133-4. 

Jerusalem,  Hotel,  kept  by  Kaminitz, 
40,  41,  59,  60;  comfort  of,  42, 
79;  concert  at,  119;  Hebrew  bill 
of,  120. 

Jew-baiting  in  Teheran,  191-2. 

Jewish  Colonization  Association, 
the,  report  of,  230,  233;  central 
office  of,  237. 

Jewish-Spanish.     Sec  Ladino. 

Jews,  considered  aliens  in  the 
Transcaspian,  202;  as  colonists, 
233-4. 

Sec  also  under  the  names  of  the 
various  countries  and   towns. 

Jonah,  prophet,  alluded  to,  37;  the 
gourd  of,  123. 

Jordan,  the,  journey  to,  111-8;  de- 
scription of,  118. 

Joseph,   Aleppo  poet,  165. 

Joseph  ben  Hiadei,  Aleppo  Jew,  165. 

Joseph  ben  Moses  Maimon,  changes 
the  ritual  of  the  Bokhara  Jews, 
222. 

Joseph  ben  Zemach,  Aleppo  poet, 
165. 

Joseph  ibn  Aknin,  friend  of  Mai- 
monides,  165. 

Josephus,  quoted,  69-70. 

"  Journal  of  the  Palestine  Explora- 
tion Society,"  on  the  Druses, 
46. 

"  Journey  from  Aleppo  to  Jerusa- 
lem." by  Henry  Maundrell, 
quoted,  83. 

Judaeo-Spanish.    Sec  Ladino. 

Judah,  the  wilderness  of,  journey 
through,  iKMOl. 

JOdisch-Deutsch.     Sec  Yiddish. 

Jiidisch  -  deutschc  Chrestomathie, 
quoted,  53. 

"  Juilitha,"  colony  in  Palestine, 
124. 

Jihoun,   the.     Sec  Gihon,   the. 

K;ibbala,   popular   in   Cairo,  19. 
Kai-fontr-foo,  alluded  to,  173;  origin 
of  Jews  of,  221. 


252 


INDEX 


KaliU  Jftlud,  the  tower  of  Goliath, 
82. 

Kami  nil/,   Mr.,  hotel  proprietor,  40; 
sons  of,  79,  102,  112;  alluded  to, 
97;  hotels  of,  128-9. 
See  also  Jerusalem,  Hotel. 

Karaites,  the,  in  Cairo,  23-25;  manu- 
scripts of,  23,  and  footnote; 
synagogue  of,  in  Cairo,  24; 
ritual  of,  in  Cairo,  24;  and 
Rabbanite  Jews,  25;  Ladino 
spoken  by,  25;  synagogue  of,  at 
Jerusalem,  85;  pilgrims  at  Jeru- 
salem, 85. 

Kftshan,  Jews  from,  in  Teheran,  193. 

Kashani,  name  of  Teheran  Jew,  188. 

Kashani,   David,   Teheran  Jew,  195. 

Kashani,  Yekutiel,  Teheran  Jew, 
194. 

Kaufrnann,  David,  as  biographer,  20. 

Kazvin,  alluded  to,  184;  need  for 
schools  at,  195. 

Kedron,   Brook  of,   77. 

Keniset  Eliyflhu.  See  Fostat,  syna- 
gogue at. 

Kertch,   alluded   to,   200. 

"  Khaidadad,"  a  Persian  work,  223. 

Khalil.     See  Hebron. 

Khalil,  the  author's  dragoman,  112, 
113. 

Kharki,  Russian  garrison  on  the 
Afghan  frontier,  215-6. 

Khartoum,  Jews  in,  26. 

Khiva,  railway  to,  proposed,  204, 
208;  alluded  to,  210. 

Khokan,  production  of  cotton  in, 
228;  alluded  to,  200;  disease 
peculiar  to,  203. 

Kippur.  See  Atonement,  the  Day 
of. 

Kiriat  Arba.     See  Hebron. 

Kirk,  Sir  John,  and  Dr.  d'Arbela, 
74. 

Kolelim,  "  universities,"  in  Pales- 
tine, 58,  87. 

Komaroff,   General,  alluded  to,  213. 

Kompert,  alluded  to,  170. 

Konieh,  Jews  at,  158. 

KSnigsberg,  alluded  to,  239. 

Kowno,  described,  238-9. 

Kowno  Rav.  See  Specter,  Isaac 
Elkan. 

Krasnovodsk,  alluded  to,  198,  200; 
described,  201,  203-4. 

Kuba,  Jewish  community  in,  181. 

KulOniyeh,  identified,  40. 

Kuropatkin,  General,  opinions  on, 
201-2;  and  Geok  Tepe,  210. 

Kutais,  Jewish  records  at,  178,  181. 

Ladino,  Jewish-Spanish,  spoken  in 
Cairo,  25;  spoken  in  Palestine, 
47;  forbidden  at  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  61;  spoken 
at  Salonica,  142;  spoken  in 
Smyrna,  150. 


Lake  District,  the,  alluded  to,  40. 

Larissa,  Jewish  population  of,  147-8. 

Latins,   the,   at   Bethlehem,  98. 

Lebanon,    the,    Druses   in,    46. 

Le  Bon,   Gustave,   quoted,   44. 

Lechmere  Hospital,  near  Jerusalem, 
alluded  to,  133. 

Legends,  on  Maimonidcs,  22;  on 
Adam,  106;  on  Isaac  Luria,  53-4; 
on  a  Biblical  volume  at  Mag- 
nesia, 154-5. 

"  Lemaan  Zion,"  a  German  society, 
and  the  Chalukah,  87. 

Lemberg,  alluded  to,  200. 

Lemberg,   sculptor  in  Jerusalem,  63. 

Lenkoran,  alluded  to,  181,  183. 

Leprosy,   in  Turkestan,   203. 

Les  premieres  civilisations,  by 
Gustave  Le  Bon,  quoted,  44. 

Leven,  in  the   Hirsch  Colonies,  231. 

Levy,  Benn,  not  permitted  to  enter 
the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  107. 

Levy,  Xissim,  director  of  a  school 
at  Tetuan,  170. 

"  Life  and  Work  of  Herzen  at  Home 
and  Abroad,"  by  Smirnof,  al- 
luded to,  227. 

Lionel  de  Rothschild  Technical 
School,  at  Jerusalem,  49;  de- 
scription of,  59-66,  135-6;  num- 
ber of  pupils  in,  60;  prayers  at, 
61;  curriculum  at,  61-2;  work- 
shops of,  62-4;  situation  of,  64; 
pupils  of,  64-6,  135-7;  trades 
taught  at,  136;  work  done  by 
the  pupils  of,  136-8. 

Lippe,  alluded  to,  57. 

Liturgy,  the,  used  in  Cairo,  19;  of 
Karaites,  24;  used  at  Petrovsk, 
178-9;  used  by  the  Jews  of  Bok- 
hara, 222. 

Lodz,  alluded  to,  216;  mills  in, 
import  cotton  from  Turkestan, 
228. 

"  Loess,"  fertile  soil  near  the  Oxus, 
217. 

Loewe,  Dr.,  captured  by  the  Druses, 
47. 

London,  Bokhariots  travel  to,  219. 

Lopes,  Isaac,   Aleppo  Jew,   166. 

Lot's  Lake,  alluded  to,  117. 

Lublin,  alluded  to,  199. 

Luncz,  on  the  Tomb  of  Rachel,  90. 

Lupus,   endemic  in  Samarkand,   203. 

Maale  Yehudiya,  Jewish  quarter  of 
Teheran,  184. 

lfaa.se  Buch,  quoted,  53. 

Machpelah,  the  Cave  of,  veneration 
for,  104;  Great  Mosque  over, 
106-9;  carefully  guarded,  106-7; 
entered  by  author,  107  (foot- 
note), 137-8;  Jews  pray  at,  108; 
visited  by  Nachmanides,  110; 
work  done  by  Jewish  artisans 
on  the  Mosque  over,  137-8. 


INDEX 


253 


Machzor  Romania,  presented  to  the 
author,  150. 

Magnesia,  Jewish  schools  at,  153-4; 
synagogues  of,  154;  legend  con- 
nected with,  154-5. 

Mahanaiin,  building  of  the  Evelina 
de  Rothschild  School,  138. 

Mahdi,   the,   alluded  to,   25. 

Maimon.  See  Joseph  ben  Moses 
Maimon. 

Mainionides,  associated  with  Egypt, 
16,  21-2;  and  the  Duchan,  19; 
autograph  letters  of,  21  (foot- 
note) ;  legend  about,  22 ;  friend 
of,  165. 

Malabar,  Jews  of,  in  relation  with 
Aleppo  Jews,  164. 

Manasseh  ben  Israel,  editor  of 
"  Mekor  Chajini,"  166. 

Manjubi,  Sabbatai,  Karaite  Chacham 
in  Cairo,  23. 

Manoah,  Daniel  Raphael,  Jew  of 
Kutais,  181-2. 

Manuscripts,  at  Salonica,  145-6;  at 
Volo,  147-8;  at  Magnesia,  154-5; 
at  Bounar  Bashi,  155-6;  at 
Rhodes,  157;  at  Aleppo,  162-6; 
bearing  on  Hebrew-Persian  lit- 
erature, 173-4;  at  Baku,  180;  at 
Teheran.  188;  at  Bokhara,  197, 
221,  223. 

Mar  AH  ben  Nathan,  inscription 
concerning,  160-1. 

Mark  Twain,   quoted,   118. 

Marseilles,  pupils  from  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem  sent  to, 
136. 

Massoretic  Bible,  or  parts  of  the 
Bible,  manuscripts  of,  at  Cairo, 
23;  at  Magnesia,  154;  at  Aleppo, 
163,  164;  at  Kutais,  181. 
Sec  also  Bible,  the;  Hagio- 
grapha,  the;  '  Pentateuch,  the; 
Prophets,  the. 

Massoretic  Codex.  Sec  Aaron  ben 
Asher,  Codex  of. 

Maundrell,  Henry,  traveller,  quoted, 
83. 

Mauricio,  one  of  the  Hirsch  Col- 
onies, 231 ;  prospects  of,  233. 

Meah  Shearirn,  near  Rachel's  Tomb, 
95. 

Meakin,  Burlgett,  experiences  of,  in 
the  Transcaspian,  198. 

Meath,   Karl  of,  alluded  to,  42. 

Megilloth,  the,  in  an  Aleppo  manu- 
script, 163. 

Meir,  Jew  of  Teheran,  194. 

"  Mckor  Chajirn,"   editions  of,   166. 

Mellah,  Jewish  quarter  in  Morocco, 
170. 

Mf'nachf,  Bohaz,  owner  of  manu- 
scripts, 157. 

Mersina,  Jews  of,  157-8. 


Merv,  history  and  importance  of, 
213-4;  various  masters  of,  213; 
situation  of,  214;  Jewish  inter- 
est of,  214;  disease  prevalent  in, 
203. 

Meshed,  alluded  to,  210;  Jews  of, 
persecuted,  214. 

Mikveh  Israel.  See  Agricultural 
School. 

Minchah.  at  Salonica,  140,  142. 

Minhag  Mizraim,  in  Cairo,  19. 

Misgab  Ladach,  hospital  in  Jeru- 
salem, 73,  76-80;  building  of, 
78;  opening  of,  78-80. 

Misrachi,  the,  Jewish  citizens  of 
Salonica,  143. 

Misseri,  Nissim,  synagogue  of,  18-9; 
description  of,  19. 

Missionary  Hospital,  in  Jerusalem, 
73,  76. 

Mocatta,  F.  D.,  quoted,  54. 

Modianos,  the,  Jewish  citizens  of 
Salonica,  143. 

Moharrem,  the,  tenth  of,  Arab  holy 
day,  24. 

Moisesville,  situation  of,  230,  231; 
described,  230-1;  soil  and  cli- 
mate of,  232,  234;  tree-planting 
in,  232;  prospects  of,  233-6. 

Mole,  the,  compared  with  the  Jor- 
dan, 118. 

Monocotes,  one  of  the  Hirsch  Col- 
onies, 231. 

Montagu,  Samuel,  founder  of  a 
school  at  Jerusalem,  60;  at 
Rachel's  Tomb,  95. 

Monteftore  Garden,  the,  description 
of,  126-7;  squatters  turned  out 
of,  133. 

"  Monteflore  Memorial,"  street  in 
Jerusalem,  133. 

Montefiore,   Sebag,   alluded   to,   127. 

Montefiorc,  Sir  Moses,  alluded  to, 
26,  56;  arms  of,  used  in  Jeru- 
salem, 55;  met  by  Isaac  Elkan 
Spector,  240;  mausoleum  of,  95. 

Mordecai  Xevi,  epitaph  of,  149. 

"  Moreh  Nebuchim."  ftcc  "  Guide 
of  the  Perplexed,  The." 

Morocco  Relief  Fund,  London  Coun- 
cil of  the,  subventions  a  school 
at  Tetuan,  172. 

Moscow,  author  detained  in,  199; 
alluded  to,  200;  Bokhariots  travel 
to,  219-20. 

Moscow  Bank,  the,  in  Bokhara,  219. 

Moses,  Aleppo  poet,  165. 

Moses,  and  the  Fostat  synagogue, 
28;  song  of,  34;  the  grave  of, 
117. 

Moses  el  Costandini,  a  Jew  of 
Aleppo,  165. 

Moses  ben  Awher,  Mnssorete,  23. 

"  Moses  Gato,"  street  in  Jerusalem, 
134. 


254 


INDEX 


Moshab  Zekcinim.    Sec  Old  People's 

Rest. 
Moslem     pupils     in     the     Technical 

School  in  Jerusalem,  65. 
Munk,  S.,  alluded  to,  26. 
Murghab,     the,     bridge     over,     204; 

Men-   on,   213. 

Musahflki,    Persian   poet,   223. 
Muski,  quarter  in  Cairo,  24,  27. 
Mustapha     Abdwcrahman,     author's 

dragoman,  31. 

Nablous  (Shechem),  sends  patients 
to  Jerusalem,  76;  in  the  time 
of  Nachmanides,  110;  Jewish 
population  of,  111. 

Nachmanides,    on    Palestine,    109-10. 

Nahurai.     Sec  Nour  Mahmoud. 

Naphtha  springs,  near  Baku,  179. 

Nasr  ed  Din,  Shah,  religious  toler- 
ation of,  192. 

"  Nathan's  Village,"  street  near 
Jerusalem,  133. 

Nativity,  the  Chapel  of  the,  at 
Bethlehem,  98. 

Navon,  M.,  and  the  railway  to  Jeru- 
salem, 36. 

Nebo,  Mount,  alluded  to,  117. 

Nebv  Daub,  village  near  Jerusalem, 
81. 

Nchama,  Jeuda,  Jewish  citizen  of 
Salonica,  143. 

"  Nena,"  name  of  a  vessel,  182-3. 

Neo-Platonists,  associated  with 
Egypt,  16. 

Neubauer,  A.,  alluded  to,  21; 
quoted,  162;  on  Hebrew-Persian 
literature,  173-4,  and  footnote. 

"  New  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  by 
Mark  Twain,  quoted,  118. 

Nicholas  I,  of  Russia,  and  the  emi- 
gration of  the  Jews  of  Russia 
to  Palestine,  49-50. 

Nicholas  II,  of  Russia,  and  the 
socialist  agitation,  227. 

Kilometer,  original  of  the  cross,  16. 

Nissim,   Aleppo  Jew,   165. 

Nizami,  Persian  poet,  223. 

Nordjenskold,  and  conditional  di- 
vorce, 159. 

North  London  Synagogue,  alluded 
to,  18. 

Nour  Mahmoud,  physician  at  Tehe- 
ran, 188-90,  195. 

Noureddin,  Shah,  alluded  to,  165, 
214. 

Novoradok,  first  rabbinate  of  the 
Kowno  Rav,  240. 

Novorrosisk,  alluded  to,  200. 

Odessa,  alluded  to,  200. 

Old  People's  Rest,  at  Jerusalem,  de- 
scribed, 130;  inmates  of,  131-2; 
trades  represented  in,  131;  loca- 


tion of,  132-3;  new  site  for,  134; 

plea  for,  134-5. 
Oldenburg,     founder     of    the     Royal 

Society,    interested    in    Sabbatai 

Zevi,   146. 
Olives,    Mount    of,    alluded    to,    44, 

69,  77,  80,  91,  113,  116,  138. 
Omar,    Mosoue    of,    beauty    of,    43; 

alluded   to,  138. 
Onias,   temple  of,   34. 
Ophthalmia,   in  Cairene  schools,  27; 

in  Jerusalem,  69. 

Orange   crop,    the,    at    the    Agricul- 
tural School  in  Palestine,  125. 
Osman    Bey,    Moslem    pupil    at    the 

Technical   School   in   Jerusalem, 

65. 
Osovesky,  M.,  director  of  Rishon  le- 

Zion,  123,  127. 
Otterbourg,   Madame,  and  the  Cairo 

schools,  27. 

Oxford,  alluded  to,  58,  86. 
Oxus,  the.     See  Amu  Daria,  the. 

Padua,   alluded  to,  58. 

Palacios,    alluded   to,   230,    232;    de- 
scribed,  231. 

Palestine,  size  and  accessibility  of, 
35;  number  of  tombs  in,  80-1; 
and  the  Russians,  91-2;  Jews  a 
menace  to,  92-3;  oldest  city  of, 
104;  described  bv  Nachmanides, 
109-10;  "holy  cities"  of,  111; 
Jewish  population  of,  111;  pu- 
pils from,  at  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  136. 
Sec  also  Jerusalem;  Hebron; 
Jaffa;  etc. 

Palestine,    Hotel,    kept   at   Jaffa   by 
Mr.    Kaminitz,   128-9. 

Panama,  Jews  in,  230. 

Panizel,    Chacham.  Bashi,    at   Jeru- 
salem, 79,   80. 

Paracelsus,   alluded  to,  22. 

Paraiso    trees,     planted    in    Moises- 
ville,   232. 

Paris,  alluded  to,  45,  58;  Bokhariots 
travel  to,  219. 

Passport,    Russian,    regulations   and 
inspection,  197-9. 

Paul,    Russian    archduke,    in    Pales- 
tine, 38,  64,  91. 

Pelago,   Abraham,  rabbi  of  Smyrna, 
150-1. 

Pelago,    Chaim,    rabbi    of    Smyrna, 
150. 

Pendinka.    See  Eczema. 

Penjdeh,  alluded  to,  213. 

Pentateuch.    See   Ixar    Pentateuch; 
Massoretic  Bible;  Septuagint. 

Pereire,  Madame,  buys  the  "  Tombs 
of  the  Kings,"  82. 

Perseus,  alluded  to,  37. 

Persia,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem,  46, 


INDEX 


255 


Persian  Jews,  territory  occupied  by, 
173;  early  supremacy  of,  177; 
at  Baku,  180-81;  educational 
needs  of,  190-1. 

Peru,  Jews  in,   236. 

Perushim,   orthodox  Jews,   23. 

Pesakh,  Mose,  rabbi,  at  Volo,  147. 

Pethach  Tikvah.  See  "  Gate  of 
Hope,  The." 

Petrovsk,  terminus  of  a  railway, 
174;  a  commercial  centre,  174; 
Jews  of,  174-5;  synagogue  of, 
175-7;  service  in,  178-9;  Hebrew 
pronunciation  in,  179;  Sabbath 
meal  at,  179;  alluded  to,  200. 

Philo,  associated  with  Egypt,  16. 

Picquart,    Colonel,    alluded    to,    142. 

Pilgrims,  number  of,  to  Jerusalem, 
91;  chiefly  Russians,  91;  in  Bok- 
hara, 219. 

Pinchas,  rabbi  of  Bokhara,  222. 

Pines,  Mr.,  alluded  to,  79. 

Pinsk,  emigrants  from,  and  the 
Chalukah,  87. 

Pipano,  David,  rabbi  at  Salonica, 
142. 

Pisgah,   Mount,  alluded  to,  117. 

Pi  thorn,  alluded  to,  15. 

"  Place  of  Baptism,"  alluded  to, 
118. 

Polish  Jews,  in  Petrovsk,  175. 

Polo,  Marco,  traveller,  on  Samar- 
kand, 196. 

Pompeiopolis,  ancient  name  of  Mer- 
sina,  158. 

"  Pool  of  Moses,"  near  Jericho,  114. 

Port  Said,   alluded  to,  35,  48. 

"  Portugal,"  synagogue  at  Smyrna, 
149-50,  151. 

Poti,  Jews  at,  181;  alluded  to,  200." 

Potsdam,  alluded  to,  97. 

Poznanski,  manufacturer  at  Lodz, 
228. 

Prager,  Isaac,  director  of  the  Blu- 
menthal  School,  67. 

Price,  Mr.,  mechanician  in  Jeru- 
salem, 62. 

Printing  press,  Hebrew,  at  Aleppo, 
lfif>-7. 

Privolni,  inhabitants  of,  converted 
to  Judaism,  181. 

Prokaza.     See.  Lupus. 

Prophets,  the,  anck>nt  copy  of,  in 
Magnesia,  154;  manuscript  of, 
at  Bounar  Bashi,  156. 

"  Purim  Taka,"  origin  of,  108. 

Pylae  Syriacae.    Sec  Beilan. 

Quarantine,  at  Jaffa,  37. 

"  Qucntin  Durwanl,"  alluded  to, 
170. 

Quinine,  used  extensively  in  Cen- 
tral Asia,  203. 


Raamses,  alluded  to,"  15. 

Kabbanite  Jews,  in  Cairo,  25-8; 
and  Karaites,  25;  as  linguists, 
25;  characterized,  26. 

Rachabi,    Ezekiel,   letter  by,   164. 

Rachel,  the  Tomb  of,  authenticity 
of,  89-90;  devotion  at,  94-5; 
inscriptions  on,  95-6. 

Rages,   the  ancient   Rhea,   188. 

"  Rahmaniyeh,"  name  of  a  vessel, 
129. 

Railway  accommodations  in  the 
Transcaspian,  200. 

Ramadan,   Moslem  holiday,   169. 

Rambam.     Sec   Maimonides. 

Rameses  II,   alluded  .to,   15. 

Ramleh,   alluded   to,  39,   121. 

Rashi,  studied  in  Cairo,  27;  taught 
in  the  schools  of  Tetuan,  170. 

"  Rechoboth,"  street  in  Jerusalem, 
134. 

Red  Sea,  alluded  to,  33. 

Reinowitx,  Jacob,  alluded  to,  242. 

Rejoicing  of  the  Law.  See  Sim- 
chath  Torah. 

Reouf  Pasha,  governor  of  Palestine, 
patron  of  the  Technical  School 
in  Jerusalem,  65;  character  of, 
92;  opposed  to  the  Jewish  Colo- 
nies, 92-3;  and  road-making  in 
Palestine,  93;  refuses  permission 
to  build  synagogues,  123. 

Reshd,  need  for  schools  at,  195. 

Responsa,  on  the  Donmi1,  146-7;  at 
Smyrna,  151;  by  the  Kowno 
Rav,  241-2. 

Reuben  ben  Todros,  scribe  of  a  Pen- 
tateuch, 154. 

"  Reuben's  Heritage,"  colony  in 
Palestine,  124. 

Rhea,   the   modern   Rages,   188. 

Rhodes,  pupils  from  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem  sent  to, 
136;  Jews  and  synagogues  of, 
156-7. 

Rhone,   the,   alluded   to,  216. 

Richard,  the  Lion-Hearted,  alluded 
to,  108. 

Richardson,  Dr.,  author,  alluded  to, 
82. 

Richardson,  Mr.,  Surveyor  of  the 
Bonrd  of  Trade,  alluded  to,  138. 

"  Right  Hand  of  Moses,  The," 
street  near  Jerusalem,  133. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  agent  of  the  Alli- 
ance Inraf-llte  TJnivcrsellc  at, 
236. 

Rishon  le-Xion,  synagogue  at,  93; 
visit  to,  120-4;  viticulture  at, 
121-2;  population  of,  122;  de- 
scription of,  122-4;  pupils  of 
the  Technical  School  in  Jeru- 
salem sent  to,  136. 

Rishta.     ftce  Inguinal  worm. 

Road-making  in  Palestine,  93. 


256 


INDEX 


Robinson,  on  the  Tomb  of  Rachel, 
89. 

Robinson's  Arch,  69. 

Romano,  Mr.,  Jewish  citizen  of  Heb- 
ron, 110-1. 

Rome,  synagogue  of,  161. 

Rosanawski,  Salem,  inmate  of  the 
Old  People's  Rest  at  Jerusalem, 
131. 

Rosario,  alluded  to,  230. 

Rosen,  Dr.,  quoted,  188. 

Rostoffzoff,  Count,  governor  of  Sa- 
markand, 227. 

Rostow,  alluded  to,  200. 

Rothschild,  Lord,  founder  of  a 
school  at  Jerusalem,  60. 

Rothschild,  Alphonse  de,  patron  of  a 
hospital  in  Jerusalem,  73. 

Rothschild,  Edmond  de,  alluded  to, 
42;  endows  art  classes,  63;  not 
permitted  to  enter  the  Cave  of 
Machpelah,  107. 

Rothschild,  Lionel  de.  See  Lionel 
de  Rothschild  Technical  School. 

Rothschild  Hospital  at  Snivrna,  152- 
3. 

Rothschild  Hospital,  the  (new),  in 
Jerusalem,  72,  73,  75;  statistics 
of,  88. 

Rothschild  Hospital,  the  (old),  site 
of,  76,  77. 

Roumania,  pupils  from,  at  the  Tech- 
nical School  in  Jerusalem,  136. 

Roumanian  Jews,  the,  as  colonists, 
235. 

Routes  to  Persia,  174;  to  the  Trans- 
caspian,  199-200;  to  Moisesville, 
230. 

Rudolph,  Crown  Prince  of  Austria, 
in  Palestine,  68,  82. 

"  Ruin  of  R.  Judah  the  Pious,"  133. 

"  Russia  in  Central  Asia,"  by  Cur- 
zon,  alluded  to,  199. 

Russia,  pupils  from,  at  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  136. 

Russian  Convent,  at  Jerusalem,  and 
Jewish  artisans,  64. 

Russian  Hospice,  near  Jericho,  114, 
115. 

Russian  Jews,  in  Jerusalem,  number 
of,  49;  costume  of,  50;  in  Pet- 
rovsk,  175;  in  Baku,  180;  as 
colonists,  235. 

Russians,  the,  position  of,  in  Pales- 
tine, 91-2. 

"  Russia's  Railway  Advance,"  by 
Dobson,  199. 

Safld-es-Sultaneh,  governor  of  Kaz- 
vin,  184. 

Saadiah,  associated  with  Egypt,  16. 

Sabbatai  Zevi,  career  of,  146;  birth- 
place of,  149. 

Sabzawar,  original  home  of  the 
Bokhara  Jews,  222. 


Sacy,  Sylvestre  de,  on  the  Druses, 
46. 

Sadi,   Persian  poet,  223. 

Sadr  e  Aazeni,  Persian  official,  192. 

Safdieh,  Salomon,  chief  rabbi  of 
Aleppo,  166. 

Safed,  Druses  at,  46;  Jews  of,  and 
the  Druses,  47;  sends  patients  to 
Jerusalem,  76;  a  "  holy  city," 
111;  Jewish  population  of,  ill; 
colony  near,  124. 

Safon,  Eli,  Teheran  Jew,  195. 

Satas,  the,  Jewish  citizens  of  Salon- 
ica,  143. 

St.  Cristobal  in  Argentine,  failure 
of,  233. 

St.  Joseph,  the  Convent  of,  work 
done  by  Jewish  artisans  for,  137. 

St.  Mary,  the  Church  of,  at  Bethle- 
hem, 98. 

St.  Michael,  the  Church  of,  a  syna- 
gogue, 28. 

St.  Petersburg,  alluded  to,  200. 

Saladin,  Sultan,  and  the  Cave  of 
Machpelah,  106;  alluded  to,  114. 

Salant,  Samuel,  chief  rabbi  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  the  Kolelim,  58-9; 
superintendent  of  a  Talmud  To- 
rah,  67;  alluded  to,  79. 

Salonica,  Sabbath  services  at,  140; 
synagogues  of,  140-3;  the  Jew- 
esses of,  140-1 ;  Jewish  population 
of,  142;  conflagration  in,  143; 
Talmud  Torah  at,  143-4;  inscrip- 
tions and  manuscripts  at,  145; 
converts  at,  146-7. 

Samaria,  the  new,  at  Samarkand, 
224. 

Samarln.    Sec  "  Jacob's  Memorial." 

Samarkand,  Marco  Polo  on,  196;  al- 
luded to,  198;  Kuropatkin's  en- 
try into,  202;  trade  of,  202;  dis- 
ease peculiar  to,  203;  a  city  of 
trees,  206,  227;  Yadidin  at,  214; 
Jews  removed  to,  by  Genghis 
Khan,  222;  tombs  of,  224-5;  sup- 
posed origin  of,  224;  worthies 
of,  225;  ruined  by  earthquake, 
225;  modern  quarter  of,  226; 
products  of,  228. 

Samhun,  caretaker  of  the  Monte- 
flore  Garden,  126-7. 

Samuel  ben  Hillel,  a  Jew  of  Cochin 
China,  164. 

Samuel  Laniado  ben  Abraham,  Alep- 
po axithor,  165. 

Santa  Fe,  Province  of,  described, 
232. 

Sarona,   Palestinian  colony,  126. 

Saxaoul  plantations  in  Central  Asia, 
206. 

Scanderun.     See  Alexandretta. 

Seheehter,  S.,  quoted,  56. 

Schick,  Baurath,  on  the  Tomb  of 
Rachel,  90. 


INDEX 


257 


Schilvan,  Jews  at,  181. 

Schlutzker,  Simeon  Manassoh,  rabbi 
at  Hebron,  110. 

Schools,  in  Cairo,  27-8;  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 49,  59-66;  in  Hebron,  110; 
for  agriculture,  125-6,  231,  237; 
in  Palestine,  138,  139;  at  Jaffa, 
139;  at  Salonica,  146;  at  Smyr- 
na, 151;  at  Magnesia,  153;  at 
Aleppo,  166-7;  at  Tetuan,  169- 
72;  at  Teheran,  and  elsewhere  in 
Persia,  191,  193;  needed  in  Per- 
sia, 192-3,  195. 
See  also  Talmud  Torah. 

Scott,   Reginald,  alluded  to,   105. 

Scrolls  of  the  Law,  at  Fostat,  29; 
at  Jerusalem,  55,  73. 

Sculpture,   taught  in  Jerusalem,  63. 

Second  Temple,  the  walls  of  the,  43. 

Seder,  Crown  Prince  Rudolph  pres- 
ent at,  68. 

Selichoth,  at  Salonica,  140,  142. 

Selim,  muleteer,  112. 

Sephardim,  liturgy  of,  19,  178-9;  in 
Cairo,  26;  ornamentation  of 
synagogues  of,  29;  at  the  Tech- 
nical School  in  Jerusalem,  60; 
in  Jerusalem,  61;  and  the  Cha- 
lukah,  86;  pilgrims  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 91;  of  Hebron,  108,  110;  in 
Jaffa,  128. 

Septuagint  CPentateuch),  manuscript 
of,  at  Boimar  Bashi,  156. 

Sergius,  Russian  archduke,  in  Pales- 
tine, 38,  64,  91. 

Servianus,   alluded  to,  33. 

Seth,  a  Jew  of  Aleppo,  165. 

Sevastopol,   alluded   to,   200. 

Seville,  Dancing  Mass  at,  54. 

Shalmanoser,  of  Assyria,  alluded  to, 
177,  224. 

Shechrm.    Kee  Nablous. 

Sheep-raising  in  the  Hirseh  Colo- 
nies, 232. 

Shepheard's  Hotel,  in  Cairo,  alluded 
to,  18. 

Shiraz,  school  proposed  in,  191. 

Shura,  the,  on  the  Day  of  Atone- 
ment, 143. 

Siakal,  petition  for  schools  from, 
191. 

Siberia,  Jews  permitted  in,  228-9; 
resources  of,  229. 

Sicilians,  the,  synagogue  of,  in  Sa- 
lonica, 140. 

Sidon,  Jewish  population  of,  111. 

Sijmcn,  Captain,  on  Qeok  Tepe,  209- 
10. 

Silofim,  the  pool  of,  sources  of,  71. 

Silvera,   Raphael,   Aleppo  Jew,  167. 

Simchath  Torah,  celebration  of,  in 
Jerusalem,  50-5. 

"  Sinai  and  Palestine,"  by  Dean 
Stanley,  quoted,  106. 


Sir  Moses  Montefiore  Testimonial 
Committee,  houses  erected  by, 
41,  133;  and  the  Misgab  Ladaeh, 
76. 

Skalir,  Abraham,  inmate  of  the  Old 
People's  Rest  at  Jerusalem,  131. 

Skobeleff,  and  Kuropatkin,  201;  and 
Geok  Tepe,  209-10;  monument  in 
memory  of,  211. 

Smirnof,  socialist  author,  alluded 
to,  227. 

Smyrna,  languages  taught  in  schools 
'of,  62;  historical  distinction  of, 
149;  synagogues  of,  149-50,  151; 
conflagration  at,  150;  schools  at, 
151;  hospital  at,  152-3. 

Smyrna  carpets,  made  at  Magnesia, 
153-4. 

Sodom,  the  site  of,  117-8. 

Solomon,  associated  with  Egypt,  16; 
and  the  building  of  the  First 
Temple,  70. 

Solomon  Mollah,  Hebrew-Persian 
poet,  223. 

Solomon's  Pools,  value  of,  102. 

"  Son  of  a  Star,"  by  Dr.  Richard- 
son, alluded  to,  82. 

Song  of  Moses,  at  Ain  Mflsa,  34. 

South   America,  Jews  in,  236. 

South  America,  Spanish,  Jewish  im- 
migration into,  170. 

Spector,  Isaac  Elkan,  the  Kowno 
Rav.  first  meeting  with,  239; 
widely  interested  in  Jewish  af- 
fairs, 240;  mourning  for,  241; 
Responsa  by,  241-2;  importance 
of,  243. 

Spinoza,  asked  about  Sabbatai  Zevi, 
146. 

Spira,  Breina,  inmate  of  the  Old 
People's  Rest  at  Jerusalem,  131. 

Stanley,  Dean,  and  Dr.  d'Arbela, 
74;  on  Hebron,  105,  106. 

Stein,  Dr.,  physician  at  Hebron, 
104-5. 

Steinschneider,  alluded  to,  57;  on 
conflagrations  in  the  East,  143. 

Stelvio  Pass,   alluded  to,  40. 

"  Stone  of  Israel,"  street  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 134. 

Succoth.    f!ee  Tabernacles,  Feast  of. 

Sultan's  Spring,  near  Jericho,  114. 

Supplement  an  Journal  TiPbrcu, 
Ic,  Libanon,  quoted,  163-4. 

Sura,  Jews  from,  in  Petrovsk,  178. 

Sutherland,  the  Duke  of,  canal 
scheme  of,  35-6. 

Synagogues,  private,  in  Egypt,  18- 
20;  Karaite,  24;  at  Fostn't,  28-31; 
in  the  Rothschild  Hospital  in 
Jerusalem,  73;  at  Jerusalem,  85; 
at  Rishon  le-Zion.  93,  123;  at 
Hebron,  110;  at  Snlonica,  140-3; 
at  Smyrna,  140-50,  151;  at  Mag- 
nesia, 154;  at  Bounar  Bashi, 


258 


INDEX 


155;  at  Rhodes,  156-7;  at 
Aleppo,  160-2;  at  Bokhara,  161, 
220;  at  Petrovsk,  175-6;  at 
Baku,  180;  at  Teheran,  184-5, 
186-7,  189,  193;  at  Buenos  Ayres, 
236;  at  Kowno,  238. 

Syria,  Yiddish  not  spoken  in,  48; 
pupils  from,  at  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  61;  re- 
ceives pupils  from  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  66. 

Syria,  Jews  of,  synagogue  of,  at  Je- 
rusalem, 85;  emigrate  to  Cochin 
China,  164. 

"  Talwrnacle  of  Peace,"  street  in 
Jerusalem,  134. 

Tabernacles,   at   Rhodes,   157. 

Tabernacles,  Feast  of,  in  Cairo,  16, 
33;  on  board  ship,  48-9. 

"  Tachkemoni,  The,"  a  manuscript 
fragment  of,  156;  on  Aleppo, 
165. 

Tailoring,   taught  in  Jerusalem,   63. 

"  Talisman,  The,"  alluded  to,  114. 

Talmud,   the,   quoted,   69. 

Talmud  Torah,  at  Jerusalem,  60,  67; 
at  Hebron,  110;  at  Jaffa,  128;  at 
Salonica,  143-4;  at  Aleppo,  166; 
at  Teheran,  185-6,  193. 

Tamerlane,  pillages  Aleppo,  165; 
the  destroyer  of  Annan,  211; 
intimately  associated  with  Sa- 
markand, 224-5;  tomb  of,  225. 

"  Tancred,"  by  Disraeli,  and  the 
Druses,  46. 

Tashkend,  alluded  to,  200;  new  ter- 
minus of  the  Transcaspian  Rail- 
way, 227. 

Techinnoth,   the,  at  Salonica,   142. 

Technical  School.  Sec  Lionel  de 
Rothschild  Technical  School. 

Teheran,  route  to,  183-4;  Jewish 
quarter  of,  184;  synagogues  of, 
184-5,  186-7,  189,  190,  193;  names 
of  the  Jews  of,  187-8;  schools  at, 
191,  192,  193;  Jewish  community 
of,  193;  grievances  of,  194;  Jew- 
ish notables  of,  194;  alluded  to, 
197. 

Teherani,  David  Michael,  Teheran 
Jew,  195. 

Teherani,  Moflkhtar  Cohen,  Teheran 
Jew,  194. 

Tekoah,   alluded  to,   99. 

Tell  el-Yehfldyeh,  site  of  a  Jewish 
temple,  34. 

Temple.  Sec  First  Temple;  Herod's 
Temple;  Second  Temple. 

Ten  Tribes,  the,  supposed  descend- 
ants of,  177-8,  221;  supposed 
founders  of  Samarkand,  224. 

Tetuan,  schools  of,  1(59-72;  seat  of 
chief  Moorish  rabln,  170-1. 

Thackeray,  quoted,  113. 


Thames,  the,  compared  with  the 
Jordan,  118. 

Thcssalonica,  Jews  of,  synagogue  of, 
at  Jerusalem,  85. 

Tiberias,  Jews  of,  and  the  Druses, 
47;  sends  patients  to  Jerusalem, 
76;  a  "  holy  city,"  111. 

Tiflis,  Jews  at,  181;  alluded  to,  200. 

Tobit,  alluded  to,  188. 

Toledo  synagogue,  the,  like  that  at 
Rhodes,  156. 

"  Tombs  of  the  Kings,"  in  Jerusa- 
lem, 82. 

"  Tower  of  Goliath,"  82. 

Trades,  taught  at  the  Technical 
School  in  Jerusalem,  62-4,  130; 
represented  in  the  Old  People's 
Rest  at  Jerusalem,  131. 

Transcaspian,  the,  and  the  Russians, 
196,   197;   climate  of,  202-3;   dis- 
eases in,   203. 
Sec  also  Central  Asia;  Turkestan. 

Transcaspian  Railway,  the,  203-8; 
passengers  carried  by,  207-8;  ex- 
tensions of,  227;  influence  of,  on 
commerce,  228. 

Tree-planting  in  the  colonies,  123, 
232;  in  Central  Asia,  206,  227. 

Troglodytes,  near  Jerusalem,  133. 

Tschorni,  on  Derbcnd,  179. 

Tsheen   Patsheen,   China,   222. 

Tufili,  Persian  poet,  223. 

Tuil,  Daniel  ibn  Joseph,  inmate  of 
the  Old  People's  Rest  at  Jerusa- 
lem, 131. 

Tunis,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem,  46; 
Jewish  boys  from,  at  the  Agri- 
cultural School  in  Palestine, 
126. 

Turcomans,  the,  described,  209;  sup- 
posed descendants  of  the  Ten 
Tribes,  221. 

Turkestan,  diseases  in,  203;  Jews 
permitted  in,  by  the  Russians, 
228-9. 

Sec  also  Central  Asia;  Transcas- 
pian, the. 

Turkey,   Yiddish  not  spoken  in,  48; 

§upils    from,    at    the    Technical 
chool  in  Jerusalem,  136. 
Turks,  the,  virtues  of,  83. 
Typhoidal  malaria,  endemic  in  Merv, 
203. 

Ulug    Beg,    Samarkand    astronomer, 

225. 
"  Universities  "    in    Palestine.     Sec 

Kolelim. 
Urum    Jami,    mosque    at    Magnesia, 

155. 

Ushak,  scenery  near,  208-9. 
Uzbek,  Hebrew-Persian  poet,  223. 
Uzun     Ada,     old     terminus     of     the 

Transr-aspian   Railway,   204. 
Uzziel,    Hebrew-Persian   poet,   223. 


INDEX 


259 


Uzziel  Moses  hen  David,  Hebrew- 
Persian  poet,  223. 

Valero,  banker,  and  the  Misgab  La- 
dach,  77,  79. 

Vfimbery,  alluded  to,  197. 

Van  Straalen,  alluded  to,  57. 

Vavelberg,  one  of  the  Hirsch  Col- 
onies, 231. 

"  Venus,"  name  of  a  vessel,  157. 

Verne,  Jules,  alluded  to,  78. 

Victoria,  Queen,  and  Motse  Cattaui, 
20;  called  "Anglichanka,"  216. 

Vienna,  alluded  to,  200. 

Virgil,  alluded  to,  22. 

Vladikawkas,  alluded  to,  200. 

Volo,  manuscripts  secured  at,  147; 
Jewish  population  of,  147;  a 
sea-port,  148. 

Vrevsky,  Baron,  governor  of  Turkes- 
tan, 227. 

Waisenhaus.  See  German  Orphan 
Asylum,  the. 

Warsaw,  emigrants  from,  and  the 
Chalukah,  87;  alluded  to,  200, 
238. 

Water,  along  the  Transcaspian  Rail- 
way, 206-7. 

Wedding,  Jewish,  in  Cairo,  31-2. 

Wertheimer,  Samson,  private  syna- 
gogue of,  20. 

Wessely,  editor  of  a  work  by  Far- 
issol,  164. 

Western  Wall  of  Temple,  43. 

Wickes,  Dr.,  quoted,  162. 

Wilna,  alluded  to,  238. 

"  Winter  in  Syria,  A,"  by  Grant 
Duff,  alluded  to,  124. 

Wirballen,   alluded   to,   197. 

Wittenberg,  Mr.,  philanthropist  in 
Jerusalem,  76. 

Wolff,  missionary,  on  Bokhara,  222. 

Wiirtemberg,  natives  of,  form  col- 
ony in  Palestine,  126. 

Xcnophon,   alluded  to,  16. 


Yad  ha-Chazakah,  by  Maimonides, 
manuscript  of,  21-2. 

Yadidin,  the,  alluded  to,  211;  nine- 
teenth century  Marranos,  214; 
number  of,  214. 

Yalta,  alluded  to,  200. 

Yashmak,  veil  worn  by  Turkish  la- 
dies, 196. 

Yate,  Captain,  alluded  to,  213. 

Yazd,  Jews  from,  in  Teheran,  193. 

Yazdi,  Hamadani,  name  of  Teheran 
Jew,  188. 

Yemen,  Jews  of,  in  Jerusalem,  45 
(footnote),  46;  Troglodytes  of, 
near  Jerusalem,  133. 

Yeshibah.     See  Schools. 

Yiddish,  spoken  in  Jerusalem,  47, 
48,  49;  forbidden  at  the  Techni- 
cal School  in  Jerusalem,  61. 

Yogis,  Jewish,  at  the  Old  People's 
Rest,  132. 

Y6m  'Ashfira,  Arab  holy  day,  24. 

York,  Duke  of,  alluded  to,  137. 

Yusuf  Yehudi  ben  Isaac,  Hebrew- 
Persian  poet,  223. 

Zachariah  ben  Mazliach,  Yemen  Jew 

at  Bokhara,  222. 

Zadoc  Kahn,  one  of  the  Hirsch  Col- 
onies, 231. 

Zarafshan,    the,    bridge    over,    204. 
Zedner,  alluded  to,  57. 
Zend   Avesta,   the,   Merv  mentioned 

in,  213. 
Zerachia    ben    Sheshct,    owner    of    a 

Massorctic  Pentateuch,  154. 
Zeribu,  Persian  poet,  223. 
Zevi.    Sec  Isaac,  Mordecai,  and  Sab- 

batai  Zevi. 
"  Zikr  "   of   the  Howling  Dervishes, 

84. 

Zob.    8cc  Goitre. 
Zobah.     Sec  Aleppo. 
Zunz,  on  conflagrations  in  the  Kast, 

143. 


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